Three transgender women in Ohio were questioned about their candidacy because they only used their legal name on their petitions and not their “dead name.” To fix this little-known rule so that LGBTQ+ people don’t have to deal with problems when they want to run, Ohio Democrats introduced a bill. But the Republicans who are running against the candidates put forward their bill that would make it easy to remove candidates from the ballot.
News 5 Cleveland was the first to report that Ohio county boards of elections could choose which transgender candidates would be on the ballot. This meant that the law wasn’t applied equally to the three candidates who broke a strange rule that said they had to tell the public about their name change within five years.
Arienne Childrey was certified by the Mercer County Board of Elections, Bobbie Arnold was certified by Montgomery, but Vanessa Joy was thrown out by Stark.
Joy told Statehouse reporter Morgan Trau about her position, and after it was published, it went viral around the world. Joy was not allowed to run because she forgot to put her old name on the papers.
Due to a little-known rule from the 1990s, she can’t vote because her appeal was turned down. It started many years ago, and all candidates have to list any name changes they’ve had in the last five years on their signature forms. One thing that the law doesn’t cover is changing your name after getting married.
There is no place on the petitions to put a past name, and the law is not in the secretary of state’s 2024 candidate guide. In the past few years, it hasn’t been on any candidate lists.
For many transgender people, their old names, or “dead names,” can be scary, hurtful, or even dangerous for their safety.
“But in the trans community, our dead names are dead; there’s a reason it’s dead — that is a dead person who is gone and buried,” she said.
Childrey and Arnold were both certified at first, but their boards of elections later changed their minds because they thought no one knew about this rule and they weren’t trying to trick people.
Following these decisions, both Democrats and Republicans began to look into election rules that affected transgender candidates. Each party came up with their own ideas.
Bill from Democrats
House Bill 467 would change the law so that candidates wouldn’t have to say what their old name was if an Ohio court forced them to do so.
This means that Joy and the other trans candidates whose names were legally changed would not have to show their old names.
Democratic state Reps. Michele Grim (Toledo) and Beryl Brown Piccolantonio (Gahanna) proposed the bill after reading about the disqualification.
“This bill makes sense and will fix things easily so people who want to run for office can make their choice without worrying about what the rules are,” Grim said. “This most recent primary cycle brought to light an unevenly enforced requirement that needs to be clarified.”
Arnold, Childrey, and Joy all praised the Democrats’ proposal.
“I made much more of an impact than I thought because this case kind of resonated nationwide, and the law was found in other states as well,” Joy noted. “I’m hoping that this has bolstered people to run and to get out and vote to just make changes like this.”
As part of this bill, the Declaration of Candidacy form would get more space so that candidates who need to list past names they have used in the last five years can do so. This rule would also have to be written into the candidate guide by the secretary of state.
Even though Childrey liked this plan, she quickly turned her attention to what Republicans were doing.
“It’s interesting to know that we’ve now inspired two bills — both pro and con — in the state legislature,” he said.
Bill by Republicans
Due to the candidates, a bill has been presented but has not yet been given a number. This bill would make it easier to protest against a political party nomination.
The bill that Rodney Creech (R-West Alexandria) and Angie King (R-Celina) are working on is a way to keep the government in check.
“I view it as a bipartisan bill of accountability,” he said. “Our goal is to follow the law and have fair and transparent elections.”
The rule as it stands now only lets voters protest the candidacy of someone from their own party before the primary election. For instance, only Republicans can protest candidates for the Republican nomination.
Anyone, no matter what party they belong to, would be able to protest a candidate, in or out of their party. In other words, a Republican could protest a Democratic choice, and the same goes for the other way around. Independents could also run against anyone.
“It’s about election integrity and transparency and certification defects need to be addressed regardless of which party is protesting,” King told us.
This strike is aimed at Childrey and Arnold, though.
Childrey said, “I find it very ironic.” “If we look at who the two representatives that have introduced this bill, they happen to be the only two representatives in the state of Ohio that are facing trans candidates as their Democratic opponents.”
Yes, Arnold is going up against Creech and Childrey is going up against King.
“That is absolutely no coincidence at all in my mind,” he said.
The Republicans don’t say there is no link.
“I’m not going to cover anything up — I think if they want to get on the ballot, they need to follow the law just like I do,” said Creech. “What bothered me was the three transgender candidates in Ohio put their name on the ballot as Democrats and could only be challenged by Democrats.”
He also said that the women did, in a way, break the law. They said that the fact that both of their opponents are transgender doesn’t bother them, and Creech made it clear that he doesn’t think any of the trans candidates should be taken off the ticket.
“It’s their responsibility to properly complete the form,” King told us.
No, the candidate’s guide didn’t have the name change rule. On the second page, it says that the guide is “only a brief summary and not a complete digest of laws.”
King was angry about what was going on in Mercer County.
Childrey is a registered Republican, so the chair of the Mercer County GOP filed a protest against his election. However, it was thrown out because it didn’t have enough support.
“Anyone should be able to fight for the law to be followed,” she said, adding that she also has another worry.
“I feel it’s disingenuous to both the candidates and the voters to certify, to put someone on the ballot, who — should they win — are prohibited from serving,” she added.
Last month, this took place in Alliance. The Canton Repository, one of News 5’s media partners, says that Caitlyn Weyer had to quit her job as law director and drop out of the GOP primary race for Stark County judge because she used the name of her longtime partner on petitions and forgot to put her own name on them.
The main meddling
All of the trans candidates said that Republicans are being dishonest with this bill, especially since the Ohio GOP has introduced many bills to end the state’s elections.
“The argument that we’ve heard is ‘we don’t want the opposing party meddling in someone’s primary,'” said Childrey. “At the same time that Republicans want to champion that, they want the ability to meddle in our primaries.”
The GOP says it’s happening, even though there’s no proof. They say Democrats are voting for Republicans in the primaries to choose more moderate or “beatable” rivals. While News 5 doesn’t have any data, they have heard stories that support their idea.
Both Republicans reject that they interfered with the election.
“It’s not called meddling, it’s called accountability,” Creech told us. “It looks like Democrats are telling people not to follow the law…” We’re only trying to implement something that has been in place for 75 years. What are your last thoughts tell us in the comment section.
