Transgender disenfranchisement in the United States

Last updated

Transgender disenfranchisement is the prevention by bureaucratic, institutional and social barriers, of transgender individuals from voting, or participating in other aspects of civic life.

Contents

For transgender people the main hindrances to voting are the difficulty of getting identity documents that match current gender, strict voter ID laws in some states, and incidents of anti-trans harassment and intimidation at the polls. [1] [2]

In addition, scholars have argued that a "broader political and economic disenfranchisement" not only seeks to stop transgender people from voting, but seeks to "erase trans people from public life". [3] [4]

Lack of access to accurate identity documents

The most frequently cited reason transgender people are unable to vote is the lack of IDs that show their current gender, name and appearance, and strict voting laws. [5]

The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy at the UCLA School of Law has published reports on transgender people's ability to vote ahead of elections since at least 2012. [6] [7] [8] In 2018 they found that 78,300 transgender people in just eight U.S. states might be disenfranchised because of photo ID laws. [9] In a report published before the 2024 elections, the Williams Institute reported that of the estimated 825,100 transgender Americans who were eligible to vote, 210,800 "may find it difficult to do so because of voter ID laws, including 91,300 who could face disenfranchisement in states with strict photo ID requirements." [7] This number has increased significantly since 2012. [8]

In 2022 Vice Media reported that the policy director for the National Center for Transgender Equality said that transgender people might be deliberately targeted at the polls and not just "swept up with other minorities". [1]

Transgender individuals may also be discouraged from voting under these circumstances because of prior experiences with presenting identification that does not accurately reflect their gender: 40% percent of transgender people reported being harassed in situations where they presented gender incongruent identification, while 15% reported being asked to leave the venue where the identification had been presented, and 3% reported being assaulted or attacked as a result of presenting their ID. [10] : 5  Additionally, 22% percent reported being denied equal treatment or being verbally harassed by government officials. [8] : 2 

Felon disenfranchisement

Transgender people are more likely to lose their right to vote due to having been incarcerated. A 2011 survey found that 16% of transgender people have reported being incarcerated at some point in their lives, compared to 2.7% of the general American population. [10] : 163 

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Zoledziowski, Anya (2022-10-27). "Tens of Thousands of Trans People Could Be Barred From Voting Against Anti-Trans Politicians". VICE. Retrieved 2025-12-29.
  2. ↑ Debussy, Dorian Rhea (2018-09-18). "Barriers for transgender voters ahead of the 2018 midterm elections". The Conversation. Retrieved 2025-12-29.
  3. ↑ Skinner-Thompson, Scott (2025). "Transgender Disenfranchisement". Washington University Law Review . 102 (6). Archived from the original on 2025-09-15.
  4. ↑ Appleton, Susan Frelich; Crum, Travis; and Keidan, Hannah, "The Curiously Minor Role of Minor v. Happersett (Foreword)" (2025). Scholarship@W ashULaw. 929. https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_scholarship/929
  5. ↑ Burns, Katelyn (2020-09-23). "The long history of trans voters' disenfranchisement, explained". Vox. Retrieved 2025-12-29.
  6. ↑ Herman, Jody L.; Brown, Taylor N.T. (2018). The Potential Impact of Voter Identification Laws on Transgender Voters in the 2018 General Election (Report). The Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law.
  7. 1 2 Herman, Jody L.; Cisneros, Nathan; Mahowald, Lindsay; Tentindo, Will (2024). The Potential Impact of Voter Identification Laws on Transgender Voters in the 2024 General Election (PDF). Los Angeles: UCLA School of Law, Williams Institute.
  8. 1 2 3 Herman, Jody L. "The Potential Impact of Voter Identification Laws on Transgender Voters" (PDF). Los Angeles: The Williams Institute.: 2  The report estimated that there are 88,000 eligible transgender voters in these nine strict photo ID states, of whom approximately 25,000 do not have identification or records that reflect their gender.
  9. ↑ "Trans Voters Will Be Disenfranchised in 2020 Unless We Take Action". Human Rights Watch. 2019-06-26. Retrieved 2020-06-12.
  10. 1 2
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.