More Than 300,000 Trans Americans Could Face Issues Voting in the Midterm Elections: Report
Hundreds of thousands of transgender citizens could face barriers to cast their vote in November, according to a new report from the Williams Institute.
Due to the voting laws passed in some states across the country, trans citizens might have difficulty casting their ballot on November 3 in the midterm election.
That’s according to a new report out of the University of California Los Angeles School of Law’s Williams Institute.
It found that an estimated 1.3 million adult trans people are eligible to vote in the elections. However, because 36 states now have voter ID laws that require voters to present government documentation when voting, these trans adults may face obstacles to voting because they lack an ID that correctly lists their name or gender or both.
Around 323,700 could face difficulty, according to the institute. Of that number, about 113,700 live in states with what the institute said is the “strictest” ID laws.
In a 2022 study, 49% of trans adult citizens said they had no form of ID that listed their correct name and 54% said they had none that listed their correct gender.
“Voter ID laws create a unique and, in some cases, insurmountable barrier to voting for a substantial number of transgender people,” lead author Will Tentindo, a staff attorney at the Williams Institute, said. “States must take steps to improve access to the ballot for transgender voters, including changing voter ID laws, making the process of obtaining accurate IDs simpler and more affordable, training poll workers, and reducing barriers to voting more broadly.”
The Williams Institute reports that trans people who are BIPOC, younger, have lower incomes, are unhoused, or have disabilities are all more likely to lack accurate IDs when voting.
It states that trans voters need to update their documents to reflect their correct information; however, it’s made difficult with laws prohibiting such changes or with navigating the bureaucracy of making the changes.
The institute notes that eight states ban such changes and 10 ban changes to a gender marker on a birth certificate.
“Prohibiting or restricting eligible voters from voting undermines democracy, and it undermines transgender citizens having a voice in the electoral process,” said co-author Jody L. Herman, senior scholar of public policy at the Williams Institute. “Voter ID laws can potentially disenfranchise a substantial number of transgender people and can be particularly impactful in elections decided by a small number of votes.”
