A second transgender woman’s candidacy for the Ohio House of Representatives was challenged because she didn’t disclose her birth name, or “dead name,” on her campaign petition.
Arienne Childrey is the only Democratic candidate vying for a seat in Ohio’s rural 84th House District, according to NBC News. But after Childrey filed her campaign petition last week, Mercer County Republican Party Chair Robert Hibner asked the county’s board of elections to reject it, claiming that the petition violated a state law that requires candidates to provide their birth name.
Under the 1995 law, which is rarely enforced, candidates for political office who have changed their name within the last five years are required to list their former name on both their statement of candidacy and the nominating petition, with an exemption only for those who changed their name because of marriage.
In a statement from Childrey, she said she was unaware that she would need to include her legal name on her campaign petition documents, pointing out that the provision is not included in the candidate guide issued by the Ohio seçretary of state’s office or any other paperwork or forms.
“I can’t help but wonder how many Ohio politicians ― those who have changed their names due to divorce or other reasons ― have served out their entire terms without this ever being an issue,” she said in the statement, describing it as an “effort to remove trans candidates, due to an obscure law.”
She added: “Across the state, former Rep. Steve Kraus has been approved for certification to run for office, despite his 2015 felony conviction. … Yet trans candidates are removed, or threatened with removal, for not deadnaming ourselves.”
HuffPost reached out to Hibner and the Mercer County Board of Elections for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
The challenge follows shortly after Vanessa Joy, a transgender candidate who was running for a different seat in the Ohio House, was removed from the state ballot last week by the Stark County Board of Elections for violating the same state law by not disclosing her deadname on her campaign petition.
According to the political action group LGBTQ+ Victory Institute, only one other transgender person serves as an elected official in Ohio. Meanwhile, there are 51 elected officials in the U.S. who are transgender and nonbinary, and only eight of them serve in state legislatures.
Joy has indicated that she would fight the efforts to dismiss her candidacy. Childrey, who chose to run for the Ohio House in order to push back against anti-transgender and anti-LGBTQ bills being introduced and passed in the state, has vowed not to give up regardless of the outcome of attempts to disqualify her.
“I entered this race to fight for the people of the 84th District and to fight against the rising tide of hatred in our district and our state. Regardless of the outcome of this hearing, I will continue that fight,” Childrey said in her statement.
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