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.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    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.

    • QuadratureSurfer@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      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.

      • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        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.

        Like the sherriffs Roy Tillman from Fargo?