Transgender Voters may be Disenfranchised

Transgender voters face yet another barrier due to identification documents: actually voting. A study conducted by The Williams Institute states that 378,000 of the 965,350 eligible transgender voters could have problems when hitting the ballots.

This is due to documents not matching their gender identity and the difficulty there is in changing how their identity is listed. 

Altering names and gender markers on identification documents has proven to be more difficult since the 2016 election. The process requires Coloradans to submit a court order that indicates the gender changed through a surgical procedure.

Birth certificates, social security records, and passports all require a medical note stating a person’s gender has changed. The invasive nature of requiring a medical procedure excludes low-income people and those who simply do not desire surgical procedures.

In regards to gender-identity, only 15 states offer the gender-neutral marker option ‘X’ for documents. Others have policies detailing the desired marker for some, whereas nine states require medical documents in order to alter any gender-related marker.

In total, 81,000 of those participating in the report live in states with stricter requirements regarding gender and name changes on documents, states that ask for a government-issued ID with a photo to vote on regular ballots. The 2015 Transgender Survey found that only 11 percent of those surveyed had all their identity documents in order, with 68 percent reporting they had none of their documents matching their name and gender identity.

The lack of matching identity documents can disenfranchise transgender voters. When presenting documents that do not match their gender presentation, 30 percent of people reported being harassed, assaulted, and denied service.

NewNowNext reports that if every unregistered, eligible voter would register to vote, the Democratic vote would increase.

The 2020 election is highly dominated by queer voters, but the hurdles pertaining to gender marker changes are a set back to an entire community of people.

If you are having trouble voting, attempt contacting the National Election Protection Hotline for further assistance at 1-866-OUR-VOTE.