Ohio transgender candidate disqualified for only including legal name, not former name, on petitions - Ohio Capital Journal
ohiocapitaljournal.com
A transgender candidate for the Ohio House has been disqualified because she only circulated petitions with her legal name, instead of her former name — and it has put multiple other LGBTQ+ candidates in flux.

Ohio actually has a law that says if you legally change your name within the last 5 years, it has to be on the petition. In the article it mentions that there is no place for a previous name (dead name in this instance) on the petition, and the Secretary of State’s candidate guide doesn’t mention this requirement at all.

Apparently other trans candidates had their petitions accepted with no problem.

  • @[email protected]
    6•11 months ago

    There is an exception that says the law doesn’t apply to marriage name changes, but since it isn’t well-known, WEWS/OCJ checked with dozens of lawmakers anyway. WEWS/OCJ asked married lawmakers if they had any issues when they changed their names, but all had been married for longer than five years.

    Leaving out the policy in the instructions is bullshit, but the article mentions the exception for marriage changes.

    edit: this is answering a question OP originally had on the post

    • stinerman [Ohio]OP
      3•11 months ago

      Yeah I honestly skimmed the article before I posted and then saw that later. I edited after I noticed the mistake. Mea culpa.

      • @[email protected]
        3•11 months ago

        No worries, I just had to throw that edit on there so I didn’t get brigaded by people mad at me for bringing it up for no apparent reason.