A transgender woman running for an Ohio House seat has been disqualified for failing to disclose her former name on petitions circulated to voters, in violation of a seldom-enforced state law.
Local election officials informed Vanessa Joy, who hoped to run as a Democrat for Ohio House District 50, that she was not eligible to do so, despite having collected the signatures necessary to run.
Joy sought to run in a firmly Republican district covering Stark County, just south of Akron.
Well if your dead names are dead, then that means she was less than five years old. That’s too young to run for office. jk
How in the heck does this work for someone who had their name changed for any other reason? Heck, what about married people who took their partner’s last name?
This is actually a really interesting point I hadn’t thought about, would people in witness protection or those who had to change their name to hide from dangerous people be disqualified?
Name changes by marriage are specifically exempted… because this kind of disclosure is totally unnecessary and serves no purpose.
As I noticed literally right above your comment:
If the reason for this law is to not have someone change their name to hide some negative past from voters, a marriage name change is still just as concealing. Sally Smith to Sally Michaels when there are thousands of Sally’s out there is just as much hiding as anything else.
All retroactively disqualified!! Ohio is an autonomous zone now with no leaders.
They claim in the article an exception for marriage name changes, which is nonsense. If the reason for this law is to not have someone change their name to hide some negative past from voters, a marriage name change is still just as concealing. Sally Smith to Sally Michaels when there are thousands of Sally’s out there is just as much hiding as anything else.
To clarify:
It’s an old ass law that’s not enforced.
To the point where the petition she had to use didn’t have space for it, and the 33 page guide for candidates has no mention of it.
The other article I read on this said they couldn’t find anyone that knew about this or candidate that included a prior name.
It’s not like she just refuses to follow the rule, literally no one knew about it
That other article mentions her step father is a vical anti-lgbt Republican in Ohio, pretty safe bet he researched weird rules to keep someone from running.
Not just because he doesn’t want her to win, but because other Republicans will use it in the primary against him.
If it was a random person, they would have done it to other trans candidates as well.
That’s pretty messed up if there isn’t a valid way to disclose it on the official paperwork.
One of the legitimate reasons I can see for this law would be cases where someone changed their name to be similar, or the same, as someone else who is much more likely to win.
So if someone changed their name to Joe Biden recently, I would absolutely want it disclosed that they had done so.
Did Ted Cruz have to put his birth name (Rafael) on ballots?
America has only three cities: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans. Everywhere else is Cleveland.
I totally get not wanting to disclose your deadname where a ton of conservative assholes will get ahold of it, but you probably should still have to report any other names you’ve gone by to get into public office.
This is the important question. I have no sympathy for the candidate not wanting to disclose the previous name - just because some people might react negatively doesn’t mean they get to hide their past
…… assuming it’s equally applied. If it’s true that other are not held to the same standard, that the requirement wasn’t communicated or known, or there is no chance to fix it before the election, that’s BS
Again, who’s hiding? Legal name changes are public records. No one is hiding. You have a solution in search of a problem.
Anyone should have to to get into public office imo, not just her.
She’s definitely not who I’d start enforcing that rule on tbf, but everyone should have to I think.
