Voting!

For trans people it can be a problem and it is becoming worse because of all the barriers the Republicans are putting in the way of voting.

Thousands of transgender people may be prevented from voting in US election
Pink News
By Lydia Smith 
10th August 2018

An estimated 78,000 transgender Americans may be barred from voting in the upcoming US elections due to strict voter ID laws, according to a new report.

Research by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law found people without identification or documentation that accurately reflects their gender identity are at risk of losing their ability to vote in November.

Eight states require voters to provide a government-issued photo ID at polling places, where officials decide whether the ID photo matches their registration information.

The rules could prevent trans people from voting in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia and Wisconsin.

According to the report, there is “no way to predict precisely how election officials and poll workers will treat transgender voters” at the polls if they present identification that does not accurately reflect their gender.

In many states you cannot change you gender marker on your ID unless you have surgery therefore your ID might say “Male” but you are presenting as female.

The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law says,

Forty-six percent of transgender adult citizens who have transitioned and participated in the USTS reported that they had no IDs or records that accurately reflect their gender, meaning that their identity documents list the incorrect name, incorrect gender, or both. If that percentage holds true for the full

U.S. adult transgender population, about 450,000 transgender adult citizens who have transitioned have no identification documents or records that accurately reflect their gender. Analysis of USTS data reveals that transgender citizens who have transitioned were significantly more likely than others to have no IDs that accurately reflect their gender if they were people of color (48%), young adults (ages 18 to 24; 69%), students (54%), those with low incomes (less than $10,000 annual household income; 60%), and people with disabilities (55%). American Indian or Alaskan Native (52%), Asian (49%), Multiracial (48%), and Black (48%) respondents lacked accurate IDs at the highest rates among racial and ethnic groups in the USTS.

Also for low income people it might be hard to get a copy of your birth certificate because in many states you have to apply in person for a copy of your birth certificate or your birth certificate might be in another part of the state and you would have to take a day off from work or worst yet in another state.

You might say so what’s the problem if you photo shows a woman but the gender marker says “M” will probably not be a problem, but… the ID checker might be another Kim Davis who answers “to a higher authority.”

The Connecticut primary elections are this Tuesday.