A second transgender candidate running for a seat in the Republican-majority Ohio House is at risk of being disqualified from the ballot after omitting her former name on circulating petitions.
The Mercer County Board of Elections is set to vote Thursday on whether Arienne Childrey, a Democrat from Auglaize County and one of four transgender individuals campaigning for the Legislature, is eligible to run after not disclosing her previous name, also known as her deadname, on her petition paperwork.
A little-used Ohio elections law, unfamiliar even to many state elections officials, mandates that candidates disclose any name changes in the last five years on their petitions paperwork, with exemptions for name changes due to marriage. But the law isn’t listed in the 33-page candidate requirement guide and there is no space on the petition paperwork to list any former names.
It isn’t that they don’t want to list previous names it’s that the law was buried and not made apparent to the candidate. It wasn’t on the candidate requirement guide, the petition has no space for former names, many people weren’teven aware of the law’s existence.
While I don’t disagree with the law in theory (listing previous names in normal for things like background checks) it’s clear this law was dug up specifically to try to disqualify the candidate in bad faith.