Voting while trans: Goree works with Dallas County to train poll workers
Ahmad Goree, left, with Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, and Deputy Elections Administrator Melissa Kouba Ahmad Goree, board president for The Muhlaysia Booker Foundation As Election Day approaches and with early voting already underway in Dallas County, community activist Ahmad Goree, president of the board for The Muhlaysia Booker Foundation, has been working with Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins and the Dallas County Elections Department to incorporate into the county’s poll worker training tips to making sure members of the transgender community have a smooth and fair voting experience, according to a press release from the foundation.
This is believed to be the first of its kind in Dallas County and across the state and possibly the country, the press release noted. “I commended Judge Jenkins and the Dallas County Elections Department for stepping up and making sure all voters, regardless of their identity, have an opportunity to exercise their constitutional right without fear or intimidation,” Goree said. “I hope that elections officials across Texas and the U.S.
can provide the same trainings in their communities as well,” he added. Dallas County Elections will continue to improve their training and is looking to record a training video that will discuss voting while trans in more detail, officials said.
Goree said this work started when he addressed the U.S. Department of Justice LGBTQI+ Rights Community Meeting, hosted in June by Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general, civil rights, to express concern that transgender men and women can and have experienced issues while voting when their appearance doesn’t match their photo ID picture or name.
