Tragic: Trans-identified state rep. candidate Vanessa Joy won't be allowed on the ballot in Ohio for failing to disclose a name change.
This is a shameful injustice. He should've been rejected for pretending to be a woman, not for some obscure name law. Do better Ohio. pic.twitter.com/pZc3tJLiNq
— Diver 41 (Expose Them) (@ExposeDarkDeeds) January 4, 2024
A transgender biological male who identifies as a woman has been disqualified from the Ohio House race for not disclosing the name given to him at birth.
Vanessa Joy, 50, a Democrat, was hoping to run for Ohio House District 50 and had collected the required signatures.
Under Ohio law, candidates for public office are required to disclose any name changes that they have made in the last five years. There are multiple exceptions, including for candidates who changed their name because of marriage, but being transgender is not one of them.
The law, passed in 1995, states:
If any person desiring to become a candidate for public office has had a change of name within five years immediately preceding the filing of his statement of candidacy, both his statement of candidacy and nominating petition must contain, immediately following the person’s present name, the person’s former names. Any person who has been elected under the person’s changed name, without submission of the person’s former name, shall be immediately suspended from the office and the office declared vacated, and shall be liable to the state for any salary the person has received while holding such office. The attorney general in the case of candidates for state offices, the prosecuting attorney of the most populous county in a district in the case of candidates for district offices, and the prosecuting attorney of the county in the case of all other candidates shall institute necessary action to enforce this section.