The state of North Carolina and Mecklenburg County are now being sued by a transgender woman after an election official requested to see ID “because your face doesn’t match your name.”
And the desired compensation they’re looking for is $25,000!
Back in November 2019, the 28-year-old transgender woman was asked for ID while voting, which allegedly caused emotional distress.
In the lawsuit, the woman, referred to as Jane Doe, claims her rights of equal protection were denied when the chief precinct judge required ID.
Apparently, the transgender woman has identified as a female since age 4 and lived as one since age 14, although she has a typically male name.
“The chief judge came out and said, ‘I need ID,’ and I said, ‘What is the issue?’” the woman recalled, according to WCOSTV. “(She) then says to me, ‘The issue is your face doesn’t match your name.’ I said, ‘Why must you see my ID when it’s not a requirement?’ She looks at me, eyeball to eyeball, (and says), ‘For you, it’s a requirement.’ I said, ‘Well, why me? Is it because I’m transgender?’”
A lengthy debate followed soon after the election official made the request of the transgender woman, which gathered the attention of onlookers, leaving the woman “crying and trying to hide.”
“Generally speaking, you do not show ID,” Mecklenburg County elections director Michael Dickerson explained, adding that election staff will go through sensitivity training. “We just want to make sure that everybody is aware of the sensitivity needs of a lot of people.”
Fox News reported that transgender voters are typically more susceptible to these challenges “as they are consistently and illegally denied the opportunity to have their appropriate sex or gender designation reflected on any birth certificate or driver’s license documents.”
While the incident was troublesome to the transgender woman involved, it feels even more concerning to those worried about the integrity of our elections.
