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.
This is actually a really interesting point I hadn’t thought about, would people in witness protection or those who had to change their name to hide from dangerous people be disqualified?
I don’t think people in witness protection want the publicity of running for office? On the other hand, Donald “My properties are both over and undervalued” Trump ran for president, so maybe?