Dozens of black senior citizens were ordered off a bus taking them to vote this week in Georgia.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the bus was preparing to leave a county-operated senior center when the center director told them to get off.

LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, the group that arranged for the bus to take the seniors to vote early, told the Journal-Constitution that a county clerk called the senior center to raise concerns about the bus.

Brown said that Black Voters Matter had secured permission from the senior center for the event.

"We knew it was an intimidation tactic," Brown said. "It was really unnecessary. These are grown people."

Jefferson County Administrator Adam Brett told the AJC that the county considered the transporting of the group to be "political activity," which would violate county policy, since they operate they senior center.

The event was reportedly organized with the help of the county's Democratic Party chairwoman, Diane Evans, Brett said.

"Jefferson County administration felt uncomfortable with allowing senior center patrons to leave the facility in a bus with an unknown third party," Brett said. "No seniors at the Jefferson County senior center were denied their right to vote."

Evans, who attended the event, said she helped organize it as a private citizen and denied that it was political.

The group of about 40 said that they would cast their votes later. Georgia voters are choosing between Democrat Stacey Abrams and Republican Brian Kemp in the race for governor.

Brown, the Black Voters Matter co-founder, said that the seniors were "so resolved" about voting.

"They said: 'We're going to vote. Nobody's going to stop us,' " she said. "It wasn't the first time someone has denied them or tried to prevent them from voting."