In most parts of the country, transgender and nonbinary voters face significant barriers to the ballot box — which have only increased with the recent wave of restrictive voting laws.
In particular, requiring identification in order to cast a ballot can make voting inaccessible and even unsafe for trans and nonbinary people whose IDs don't match their name or gender. Many states also have strict and extensive processes for updating IDs, creating an additional obstacle.
To help trans and nonbinary voters navigate these rules, and in honor of Pride Month, HeadCount has partnered with VoteRiders to launch #TransPeopleVote. The initiative is part of the larger "Vote With Pride" campaign, aimed at supporting all LGBTQ voters.
HeadCount is known for encouraging voter registration at concerts and music festivals. For the Vote With Pride campaign, the organization wanted to bring that same event-based approach (plus online and social outreach) to the LGBTQ community, which is often underrepresented and disenfranchised in elections.
"HeadCount through this Vote With Pride initiative really aims to connect members of the LGBTQ community to the tools that they need to vote safely and actively engage in civic life," said Miranda Rosenblum, who is leading the campaign for HeadCount.
The campaign started last year, ahead of the 2020 election. This year HeadCount is highlighting the particular barriers trans and nonbinary voters face at the polls and providing resources to that community to help ease the voting process. During Pride Month, the #TransPeopleVote and the Vote With Pride campaigns will be front-and-center to bolster voter registration and participation for the LGBTQ community.
Thirty-six states require some form of identification in order to cast a ballot. Two dozen states have rules that impede a person's ability to update the name and gender marker on their ID. Twenty-two states have both types of laws, making it especially difficult for their trans and nonbinary residents to vote in elections.
In 14 states, trans and nonbinary people have to provide proof of gender affirmation surgery — an expensive operation that is inaccessible to many — in order to update the gender marker on their ID. Another 16 states require name changes to be published in newspapers, another costly ordeal.
"This kind of high barrier in order to update your identification to feel good about presenting your ID makes it really difficult for trans folks to be able to have an ID that really represents them," Rosenblum said.
Voting barriers can be even more insurmountable for people with criminal backgrounds, which disproportionately affects the LGBTQ community. Nearly one in six transgender Americans have been to prison, according to HeadCount. LGBTQ people are 2.25 times more likely to be incarcerated than other people, according to the Prison Policy Institute.
For Black transgender individuals, the incarceration rate is nearly one in two. Twenty-five states have additional restrictions around name changes for people with criminal records, often felony convictions.
If these barriers were lower, trans and nonbinary people could have a voice and make a bigger difference in elections at the local, state and federal level, especially ones with small margins of victory, Rosenblum said.
HeadCount's website provides an overview of state laws around voting and ID change requirements and recommends the steps trans and nonbinary people should take to get an updated ID before casting a ballot. If a person cannot update their ID in time for an election, the website also advises on what steps to take to ensure a safe and secure voting experience.
Because trans and nonbinary voters are more likely to experience harassment at the polls, on account of their name or gender marker not matching their gender presentation, voting by mail is often a safer option for them. But states like Arizona, Georgia and Florida have recently approved measures rolling back mail-in voting.
Through the organization's partnership with VoteRiders, there is also a free voter hotline people can text or call to receive additional assistance. The hotline is staffed by a team of voting experts who are trans-competent, Rosenblum said.
"The more education that we can provide for folks outside of the trans and nonbinary community to really understand how significant some of these barriers are — and then on the other side, the number of resources we can provide for trans and nonbinary people to have an affirming experience when they vote — it can change our democracy," Rosenblum said.
U.S. President Donald Trump boards Air Force One on August 14, 2026 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Trump is traveling to Long Island to tour law enforcement facilities in Nassau County and rally support for local Republican candidates ahead of the upcoming midterm elections
Travel Far Enough, You Meet Yourself
Is it possible that our President has simply not traveled enough?
Born and raised in Queens and attending Fordham University in the Bronx, Donald Trump has no record of traveling outside New York until he was over 20, when he transferred to a college in the neighboring state of Pennsylvania. Were his formative years amiss, then, in his learning about other places and other people?
Is his view akin to the famous New Yorker cover by Saul Steinberg, an illustration of the United States with New York City as the epicenter of the country and the Hudson River the border of the known world? We can now at least add Washington, D.C., and Mar-a-Lago to the map of “the realm.”
Our President has now traveled some, but what we recommend is another kind of travel. Not a state-sponsored trip or a venture to scout locations for future Trump Towers. This would be a genuine travel experience, enriching and eye-opening, showcasing other cultures and ways of living.
It will extend far beyond viewing military parades, hobnobbing with such “understanding” world leaders as Kim Jong Un, or taking tea with the King.
WHERE, then, should the President go? As Elon Musk’s Starship spacecraft is not yet ready to take passengers to Mars, perhaps he could explore our own vast country?
Maybe he could travel to “flyover country,” the farming states, where his ying-yanging tariffs and trade restrictions have played havoc with rural economies. Or possibly to California, number one in homeless U. S. citizens, and while there, regale homeless veterans (approximately 32,500 nationwide) with tales of his brave exploits invading and bombing foreign countries.
Or he might tour the Great Lakes, and rename the other four?
WHEN should he go? This will be tough, as he is very busy building his ballroom and renaming bodies of water.
How about a trip in early November, around the midterm elections? Despite the long-discredited accusation of widespread voter fraud, it would be reassuring to know he might be so caught up divvying out ladles of soup in a soup kitchen somewhere that he wouldn’t remember to deploy the military for “election security.”
HOW will he travel? He should definitely not take his Qatari-donated, newly renovated 747, especially after last time, when he had to be smuggled off clandestinely in a catering truck. It’s unlikely any traveling companions, like the Secretary of State or of the Treasury, are going to fall for the ruse a second time. Besides, we may need those people. No more decoys!
Perhaps the President could fly commercially, although this likely would expose him to undue suffering. Without gold bathroom fixtures and maple wood floors, the trip will be no “Luxury Experience.” If only he still had his “Trump Shuttle,” bought with a massive loan he later defaulted on, saying then, “I’m smart. I got out at a good time.”
Considering the potential pitfalls, maybe it’s best the President travel incognito, disguised perhaps as an elderly woman wearing a lot of bronzer.
Wherever, whenever, however: our President needs a vacation.
Moreover, we need a vacation from him.
If the President refuses our travel suggestions, here’s another idea:
Let’s get him a pet! He has never owned a pet. As we know with our children, pets teach essential life lessons: compassion and empathy; they instill a sense of responsibility. There is a well-established connection between those who can care for a pet and those who can care for people.
So, which pet should we choose? A puppy? A kitten? A boa constrictor?
Imagine, the President may even decide he likes having a pet. After all, what is more obedient than a well-trained dog, besides possibly the Cabinet? And what is more docile than a sweet kitten, other than plausibly the Supreme Court?
The President may even become more mellow with a pet afoot and less likely to slap tariffs on our allies, or attempt to annex our neighbors, or bully our Congress. (Realizing, of course, a bully requires active participation from the bullied to maintain his status.)
Maybe we should do both: get the President a pet and devise a travel plan for him. (Do you think we could possibly convince him to leave his phone at home?)
Let’s go for it! After all:
Travel far enough, you meet yourself. (David Mitchell)
And for our President, that would likely be the most profound discovery of all.
Amy Lockard is an Iowa resident who regularly contributes to regional newspapers and periodicals. She is working on the second of a four-book fictional series based on Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice."