Republican Policies Are Making It Harder For Trans People To Vote -- And Do Everyday Life
Arkansas is one of at least five states, including Florida, Montana and Texas, to enact policies this year that bar trans and nonbinary people from updating the gender marker on identification documents such as state driver’s licenses or birth certificates. Missouri quietly added its own requirements for individuals to show documentation for “proof of full transition” from a surgeon or to get other medical documentation.
Experts warn such policies not only pose barriers to employment, banking and housing but could also have major implications for trans people as they try to vote in November. About 210,800 eligible transgender voters who live in states with voter ID requirements do not have an ID that reflects their correct gender, according to a new estimate from the Williams Institute, an LGBTQ+ policy research center.
Conservatives have long championed voter ID policies as a way to weed out possible election fraud, even though research shows those rates to be exceptionally low. In practice, voting rights experts say, these policies deter low-income people, people of color and trans people from voting. Since 2020, Republican-led states have enacted stricter requirements for voters, and 36 states have some sort of voter ID law.
The federal government allows individuals to self-select their gender when applying for documentation such as passports and Social Security cards. But Republican-led states are increasingly making it difficult for trans people to update their gender marker on state-issued documents — and doing so without much fanfare, meaning many trans people may not know about the changes until it’s too late. Experts say that many state officials have skirted typical legislative processes, instead quietly issuing internal agency policies, memos and executive orders to keep trans people from having documentation that reflects their gender identity.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/republican-policies-making-it-harder-trans-people-to-vote_n_66edd5bbe4b07bdc7bac8b43