Is Hopkins A Victim of GOP Voter Roll Purge?
Political Activist Stacey Hopkins is resisting efforts from Georgia election officials to place her on the inactive voter list.
Make no bones about it, Stacey A. Hopkins, has been politically active most of her life. The Brooklyn, New York native with roots in Atlanta, came south several years ago. She has been quite active of late in progressive politics. But a letter she received from state election officials in Georgia may have landed her in the biggest political fight of her life.
Georgia like most states run by Republican politicians is focused upon ways to find voter fraud. If they can find enough cases that resemble illegal voter registration they will pounce on them as proof of their theory that there is widespread voter fraud and the voter rolls must be purged to prevent unlawful voters from participating in the process.
This would all be a good public service if there was evidence to support the premise that elections in Georgia or any other state are won and loss on the strength of illegal voters.
Republicans have harped upon this theme for nearly a decade now, without any evidence to back up their stated suspicions.
Following last year’s presidential election, Donald Trump, the winner of the electoral college vote, but not the popular vote, claimed that he would have won the popular vote count had not hundred of thousands of illegal voters cast ballots for his opponent.
Recently, Trump’s Department of Justice under the watchful eye of Attorney General Jeff Sessions sent a letter to state election officials asking them to explain what steps they are undertaking to purge their voter rolls.
This is where Hopkins comes into the national debate over the issue of voter purging. She received a letter in the mail advising she had to re-register within 30 days if she wanted to remain on the active voter rolls.
Hopkins is not your typical Black political operative, fitting neatly into a Republican or Democratic peg.
She cut her teeth on progressive politic as a council organizer with Move On Atlanta, and as a field director with We Count Georgia at Georgia WAND. Also she did volunteer work for Bernie Sanders Independent State Coalition and is a co-founder of Brand New Congress.
Hopkins has declared that the Trump administration has picked on the wrong voter with this one and has vowed to fight to maintain her active voter registration all the way to the United States Supreme Court if necessary.
She has secured the legal services of the American Civil Liberties Union for this fight.
What is happening to Hopkins is happening to Americans all across the country as the GOP seeks justification to purge the voter rolls in all 50 states, similar to the purge done by Democrats following the Reconstruction era of American politics. Hopkins refuses to be victimized by this national push to purge the voter lists in the states.
Will she be pushed to the inactive voter list where she would be one step closer to losing her right to vote in Georgia elections?
Keep an eye on this case from Georgia as it has implications for voter purges throughout the nation.
Harold Michael Harvey is an American novelist and essayist. He is a Contributor at The Hill, SCLC National Magazine, Southern Changers Magazine and Black College Nines. He can be contacted at hmharvey@haroldmichaelharvey.com
