Election monitor argues strict photo ID laws won’t oppress transgender voters

CULLMAN, Ala. — A voter integrity watchdog says a study arguing transgender voters could be disenfranchised by strict voter ID laws is overblown.

The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law released a report this week saying about 24,000 transgender voters in 10 states with government-issued photo ID requirements for voting could be prevented from casting ballots in November because they don’t have an updated ID that reflects their current gender.

That represents about 28 percent of the transgender population in Kansas, Texas, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Indiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Virginia.

“Transgender people who have transitioned face additional burdens to acquiring or updating identification that would fulfill voter ID requirements because they must comply with the requirements for updating the name and gender on their state-issued or federally-issued IDs and records,” wrote study author Jody L. Herman.

“There is no way to predict precisely how election officials and poll workers will treat transgender voters at the polls if they do not present accurate identification. Respondents to the (National Transgender Discrimination Survey) reported having negative experiences after presenting identification documents that did not match their gender presentation,” Herman said.

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