Millions of transgender Americans could face increased barriers at the polls if Republican members of Congress cave to pressure from President Donald Trump and pass first-of-their-kind federal voting restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In May, Trump called upon<\/a> Republicans to pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (also known as the SAVE America Act). This would require proof of U.S. citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate, when registering to vote, as well as a photo ID to cast a ballot in any election.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his post, Trump urged Republicans<\/a> to attach the bill to must-pass legislation, namely a bill to extend the warrantless spying powers of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act as well as a bipartisan housing bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday, Trump suddenly canceled\u00a0plans to sign a major housing bill, which is aimed at lowering the cost of housing and speeding\u00a0up home\u00a0construction, until the voting restrictions are passed.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n He posted on Truth Social<\/a> about the abrupt change, writing that “Today\u2019s Housing News Conference and Signing is hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Movement Advancement Project<\/a> has said the strict ID rules could disenfranchise as many as 3.3 million transgender voters, who could be turned away if their ID lists a different name or gender marker than they currently use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The SAVE America Act is the successor to the massively unpopular SAVE Act that Republicans unsuccessfully tried to pass last year. The Center for American Progress<\/a> said that if the SAVE America Act becomes law, it would be the first time in history that Congress passed legislation to restrict the right to vote of American citizens. House Republicans passed the bill<\/a> in February, and it\u2019s now before the Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As serious as the restrictions would be, Xavier Persad of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) says voters need to know that the bill, as it stands, faces a steep path to becoming law. For now, the changes are only hypothetical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs terrible as [the restrictions] would be, they are not in existence. \u2026 Federal registration rules have not changed, and folks should register or ensure they\u2019re registered under existing state laws and vote as early as possible under state law,\u201d said Persad, senior policy counsel at the ACLU focusing on voting rights and democracy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Organizations including the League of Women Voters<\/a> and Human Rights Watch<\/a> have raised the alarm about efforts by Republicans to establish strict ID requirements for voters, arguing that they impact women, trans people, and other marginalized groups disproportionately. While the SAVE America Act is still a long way from becoming law, experts and community organizers say even the specter of its restrictions has done lasting damage to voters, especially trans people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That damage goes further in states where there are already harsh barriers \u2014 or even outright bans \u2014 to changing legal identification documents like birth certificates and driver\u2019s licenses. In November, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to enforce a policy that requires passports to reflect a person\u2019s sex as it was assigned at birth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Shira Berkowitz, senior director of policy and advocacy at Missouri-based LGBTQ+ advocacy group PROMO, says they have already seen an influx of calls from trans people asking if it’s safe for them to vote, or if they can vote at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe challenges of \u2018Is it legal? Is it not legal?\u2019 has already disenfranchised a tremendous number of voters from even deciding that it’s worth it to attempt to show up to vote,\u201d Berkowitz told the TransLash Wire. \u201cWe hear all the time from folks who are anxious, stressed out, have the gamut of negative feelings regarding how to navigate a system where they’re not sure what is possible already in terms of an ID.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the Movement Advancement Project, Missouri is one of nine states that requires a court order or proof of surgery in order to change ID documents like a birth certificate, meaning that under the SAVE America Act, transgender Missourians could face steep hurdles (at minimum) when registering to vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As harsh as Missouri\u2019s rules may be, five states outright ban people from changing gender markers on state IDs. Officials in Kansas \u2014 one of those five states \u2014 took the extraordinary step earlier this year of retroactively canceling licenses that were already legally changed. The law also invalidated birth certificates for those who had updated their gender markers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n NBC<\/a> reported that 1,700 people had their licenses invalidated in February after Republican legislators rushed a bathroom ban through the statehouse<\/a> that included a provision that a person\u2019s sex listed on a driver\u2019s license and birth certificate must match their sex as it was assigned at birth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed the legislation<\/a> in February, but Republicans overrode the veto<\/a> days later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Equality Kansas CEO Tom Alonzo says the new ID restrictions impact a few thousand trans people throughout the state \u2014 meaning legislators focused their priority on a minute number of people in the state amid a number of crises they could be addressing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTo spend their time on legislation affecting 3,000 – 4,000 people \u2026 we have an aquifer that’s drying up in 45 years. What\u2019s going to happen to that, exactly?\u201d Alonzo said. \u201cWe have a school crisis, we have an economic crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like Berkowitz in Missouri, Alonzo expects many trans people in the state to forgo voting entirely, out of fear that they might be blocked or harassed while trying to cast a ballot. But many, he says, are determined to still exercise their constitutional right to vote. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMost are very well informed,\u201d he said. \u201cThey know that they have to have a current driver’s license; these people are ruthless about your ID and everything, even here in a Democratic county, in a blue county.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But he clarified that poll workers\u2019 strict adherence to policy isn\u2019t because they agree with stringent ID rules. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey don’t want to get in trouble [with election officials].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Experts say Kansas officials\u2019 efforts almost perfectly illustrate how voter ID laws uniquely affect trans people. The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law has been following this issue for years, and has released a handful of reports<\/a> detailing the impact<\/a> of voter ID laws on trans people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n