A transgender congressional member who was disqualified by the Stark County Board of Elections on Tuesday for failing to list her “deadname” on her campaign papers as required by state law was denied an appeal in Columbus, Ohio.
Vanessa Joy asked the board to reconsider its majority decision last week to preclude Joy from running for Ohio House because she failed to include her birth name on her nomination requests. The bipartisan committee voted 4 to 0 against Joy. Joy posted a video of the board’s judgment on social media.
With the exception of people who changed their names after getting married and/or any state or local elected officials who formerly complied with the law, the committee cited a rarely-used state law last year requiring people filing for public office in Ohio to record both their current name and any other names they went by in the previous five years.
Board members noted on Tuesday that the law has been in effect in several forms for years prior to the 1995 passage of the latest version.
Joy texted, “Wish I knew,” when asked what she intended to do next following the board’s decision on Tuesday.
Joy claimed in her appeal that she “recognizes” and “agrees with the spirit” of the law. She added that the requirement isn’t mentioned in the 33-page nomination link issued by the Ohio secretary of state’s office and that many Stark County Board of Elections staff members appeared to be unaware of the law themselves. She also claimed that she wasn’t aware of the law until she had been disqualified.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, for some transgender people, referring to them by their “deadname” — the birth name they went by before transitioning — may be “quite invalidating or traumatic.”
Joy would have had a difficult time winning in the Republican-leaning district even if the committee turned around and let her cast her ballot. The sole Republican to run for the district is Matt Kishman, who sits on the Minerva, Ohio, village council. Democrat Doremus Redvine also cast his ballot, but only as a write-in candidate.
At least four Ohioans have submitted applications to become the state’s first openly transgender senator, including Joy, a real estate agent from Massillon. Social outsiders who reside in primarily rural, firmly Republican areas are Joy, Bobbie Arnold of Preble County, Arienne Childrey, and Ari Faber of Athens.
All of them, with the exception of Joy, had their petitions approved by the state boards of elections in their respective counties, though the Mercer County Republican Party head has objected to Childrey’s petitions as well for omitting her birth name. A hearing on the objection was scheduled for January 18 by the Mercer County Board of Elections.
The Mercer County Democrats, however, assert that the GOP’s protest against Childrey is unconstitutional, citing an Ohio law that states that only candidates from the same political party as the petitioner may challenge petition signatures in a primary election.
According to an email sent by LaRose spokesperson Melanie Amato, the legal team of Secretary of State Frank LaRose called the Mercer County Prosecutor Erin Minor and the Board of Elections on Monday to discuss information about state laws and regulations regarding such objections.
The GOP protest’s legality will be determined by the elections board and state attorney, according to Amato. The Mercer County prosecutor’s office and elections board have been contacted by Cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer for comment.
For Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer, Jeremy Pelzer writes about state politics and policy.
