How Trans Voters Could be Excluded from the Election
Newsweek analysis of poll worker manuals and other instructions from states shows that only Rhode Island has specific guidance relating to trans voters.
The other states contained no mention of transgender voters in guidance documents seen."In places where you have to have a photo ID to vote, unfortunately, trans people may face barriers—both because of difficulties in obtaining an accepted ID or because they could face bias or misunderstandings of the law as it relates to their gender," Michell Kanter Cohen, policy director and senior counsel at the nonpartisan voting rights group Fair Election Center told Newsweek."States should provide guidance for poll workers, especially in states with photo ID requirements, to make sure it is clear that a person's gender differences or presentation does not affect their right to vote."Although transgender voters may not be a big enough constituency to swing the presidential election by themselves, the issue of democratic processes and voting rights looms large over the election, with Republicans generally favoring tougher procedures, saying they prevent fraud, and Democrats saying such measures could exclude minorities.Trans rights have themselves become a touchstone issue in recent years from questions over whether trans women should be allowed to participate in women's sports to gender affirming care for minors and to whether people should be able to choose their own pronouns and get others to respect their choices.According to a September 2024 report released by the Williams Institute, a think tank at the University of California School of Law, more than 210,000 voting-eligible transgender adults could be at risk of being disenfranchised due to the strictest of voter ID rules where differing facial features and potential "dead names" on ID cards, the name a transgender person is given at birth but no longer uses after transitioning, may cause confusion.Of the 35 states that now require a government-issued identification to.
