In Ohio, a transgender candidate was removed from the ballot for not including her previous name under a seldom-used, decades-old law. Vanessa Joy was informed on Wednesday that, despite collecting enough signatures to run, her petition to run for office was denied by the Stark County Election Commission according to news first reported by local journalist Morgan Trau of Ohio. The law requires any candidate running for office to include name changes on their petition if the name change occurred within the last five years. At least two other transgender candidates could be impacted by this law, which seems to have been selectively enforced against Joy.
The law, enacted in 1995, mandates that any candidate who has had “a change of name within five years immediately preceding” filing for office must list their former name in the nominating petition. This effectively requires all transgender candidates to list their deadname — the name transgender people typically abandon when they transition — on their petitions. This requirement is waived for many reasons, including name changes due to marriage.........