The left has traditionally pushed back on voter ID laws claiming the requirement disenfranchises racial minorities, but with just days until the midterm elections, NBC News is warning about another segment of the population it claims will be "disproportionately" impacted from such laws on Election Day: transgender people.
Detailing the experiences of a handful of transgender persons during previous elections, NBC News details the fear these individuals feel having to “out” themselves and therefore potentially becoming subject to harassment and violence.
Jace Wilder, the education manager at the Tennessee Equality Project, a statewide LGBTQ advocacy group, said he has received emails about trans people “that are scared to even attempt to go vote because of how vicious it has become here.”
He said some trans people want to use their right to vote, but not if “it’s going to actually put a target on you before you even get to walk in the door with whoever’s behind you making a judgment about you — maybe making comments potentially ending with more violence.”
Wilder said that when he voted in the 2020 election in Nashville, a poll worker stared at his ID for about five minutes in silence before Wilder felt compelled to out himself as trans and explain the discrepancies. He said he’s afraid that this year trans people are more likely to simply be turned away entirely, “because it’s become acceptable to consider trans people as fraudulent at this point.” (NBC News)
A large majority of Americans, 80 percent, support photo ID laws. Thirty-five states will require some form of identification for the midterm elections, while eight states will only accept a government-issued photo ID.
Fox News's Tucker Carlson mocked NBC over the report.
Tucker Carlson mocks NBC for saying voter ID laws "disproportionately impact" trans people. pic.twitter.com/z19YMX6ZCK
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) November 3, 2022
