University of California, Los Angeles research institute has issued a report suggesting that voter ID laws discriminate against transgender voters.  

The report released by the Williams Institute—a research institute at the UCLA School of Law that focuses largely on the LGBT community and “the impact of law and policy on their health and well-being”—identifies eight states with “strict voter ID laws” that could potentially disenfranchise people whose government-issued identification does not accurately reflect their chosen gender.

The institute asserts that voter ID laws could prevent at least 78,000 transgender individuals from voting in the 2018 elections because “transgender people who have transitioned often face substantial challenges to obtaining accurate identification” that “accurately reflects their gender.”

The authors of the report contend that the process of obtaining an accurate ID after gender transition “can be difficult and expensive,” and therefore “strict” voter ID laws—or “laws that require voters provide a government-issued photo ID, such as a driver’s license, U.S. passport or military ID, in order to vote at the polls”—cause transgender individuals to “face barriers to voting and possible disenfranchisement.”

The report calls out eight specific states with “strict” photo ID requirements: Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin.  

Seven of these states offer free IDs to residents for voting purposes, but Virginia residents must purchase an identification card for between $10 and $16 in order to cast a ballot.  

Full story at Campus Reform.