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.
Yeah, i get the fraughtnrss tied to it when you’re trans, but the purpose is to make the clear history of the person accessible- you can identify everything they publicly did under any moniker within a reasonable time period. Sucks, but her life didn’t start when she name changed.