Today, Transgender Law Center (TLC), Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF) and 63 other trans-led organizations nationally are calling for every vote to be counted in the 2020 election before formally announcing the 46th President of the United States. This year saw more absentee, mail-in, and early voting than any previous election, and as such, will require additional time to guarantee that each ballot cast will be counted by election officials. Though President Trump is falsely declaring victory and denying the legitimacy of ballots legally received or counted after election day, every vote needs to be counted.
“Serious and unprecedented threats to the democratic process and the safety of voters comes on the heels of four long years of horrific and targeted attacks on trans peoples’ healthcare, housing, employment, education, and lives and safety at the southern border by the Trump Administration,” said Kris Hayashi, Executive Director of Transgender Law Center. “Trans, gender nonconforming and nonbinary people have an unprecedented stake in the outcome of this election, and we are calling for our voices as voters to be counted and heard.”
“Transgender people like everyone else deserve to have their votes counted regardless of how that vote was cast,” said Andy Marra, Executive Director of TLDEF. “Our community has been actively working to ensure transgender people are informed about their right to vote and today we are insisting on the value and importance of counting every vote before any winner is announced.”
The 2020 election is being held amid a global pandemic that has disproportionately impacted Black and brown communities throughout the country – the same communities who have been most impacted historically by voter disenfranchisement efforts and racist attempts to roll back voting rights or put impediments in the way of voting. This election is also being held during concurrent epidemics of police murders of Black people and violence and murder facing Black trans people in the U.S.
During this challenging and painful time, we have witnessed the leadership and resistance of trans, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary people. An expansion of mutual aid, always an integral part of our survival strategies, but widening to support more and more of us during the COVID-19 pandemic. The creation of new and innovative housing and shelter solutions in the face of the Trump Administration’s current efforts to deny trans people access to emergency shelter. The clear and visible leadership of Black trans, gender nonconforming and nonbinary people in the movement to end the crisis of police and state violence against Black people. The extraordinary organizing of trans migrants, trans people living with HIV, and disabled trans people demanding access to freedom, health, and safety in the face of a society that treats them as disposable.
Today, in an act of further resistance toward those individuals who seek to strip away the right to vote from so many people in this nation, the undersigned trans-led organizations are asking that everyone contact their Senators and Representatives and demand that every vote is counted in the 2020 election. TLC and TLDEF will also amplify the calls for direct action of our state and local partners around the nation; follow our Twitter feeds for information.
Additionally, voters who have experienced discrimination or intimidation at the polls, whether or not they were actually able to vote, can report it at TLDEF’s Election Day Discrimination website and an attorney will contact them. TLDEF will undertake advocacy with election officials and, if necessary pursue litigation, in order to eliminate discrimination against transgender people on Election Day.
Whatever the final outcome of this election, our organizations will redouble our commitment to fight for a future of liberation, equity, and equality for the transgender community in our country, so that the marginalization of trans people – especially Black and other trans people of color – is no longer an obstacle to voters expressing their will on Election Day in a free and fair election.
APIENC San Francisco, California
Black Trans Advocacy Coalition Dallas, Texas
Brave Space Alliance Chicago, Illinois
Choosing Our Roots Anchorage, Alaska
Colorado Name Change Project Boulder, Colorado
Dem Bois Inc. San Pablo, California
Eastern PA Trans Equity Project Orefield, Pennsylvania
FORGE, Inc. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Freedom Overground Atlanta, Georgia
Gender Benders Piedmont, South Carolina
Gender Odyssey Alliance Seattle, Washington
GenderNexus Indianapolis, Indiana
Hearts on a Wire Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Heartspark Press Olympia, Washington
House of Pentacles Durham, North Carolina
House of Tulip New Orleans, Louisiana
Intransitive Little Rock, Arkansas
La Gender Inc East Point, Georgia
Lavender Rights Project Seattle, Washington
LGBTQ Center of Durham Durham, North Carolina
Louisiana Trans Advocates Baton Rouge, Louisiana
LYRIC San Francisco, California
Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition Boston, Massachusetts
Metro Trans Umbrella Group St. Louis, Missouri
Ministries Beyond Welcome Winston-Salem, North Carolina
My Sistah’s House Memphis, Tennessee
National Center for Transgender Equality Washington, District of Columbia
New York Trans Advocacy Group (NYTAG) New York, New York
Out in the Open Brattleboro, Vermont
PFLAG New Hampshire Concord, New Hampshire
Point of Pride Eugene, Oregon
QLatinx Orlando, Florida
Rooted Resistance, LLC Tallahassee, Florida
San Francisco Transgender Film Festival San Francisco, California
Southern Arizona Gender Alliance Tucson, Arizona
The Transgender District San Francisco, California
Trans Can Work Los Angeles, California
Trans Lifeline Oakland, California
Trans Maryland Gaithersburg, Maryland
Trans Pride Initiative Dallas, Texas
Trans United Fund Birmingham, Alabama
Transcend the Binary Ferndale, Michigan
TRANScending Barriers Atlanta, Georgia
Transformative Freedom Fund Denver, Colorado
Transformative Justice Law Project of IL Chicago, Illinois
Transforming Families, MN Minneapolis, Minnesota
Transgender Allies Group (TAG) Reno, Nevada
Transgender Assistance Program of Virginia Virginia Beach, Virginia
Transgender Awareness Alliance Lexington, South Carolina
Transgender Education Advocates of Utah Salt Lake City, Utah
TransGender Education Association Fairfax, Virginia
Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT) Austin, Texas
Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF) New York, New York
Transgender Law Center (TLC) Oakland, California
Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico
Transilient New York, New York
Translatinx Network New York, New York
Transmission, Inc Asheville, North Carolina
TransOhio Cleveland, Ohio
TransParent St. Louis, Missouri
TransSOCIAL, Inc. Miami, Florida
U.T.O.P.I.A. SEATTLE Kent, Washington
Unique Woman’s Coalition Los Angeles, California