COLUMBUS, Ohio — Vanessa Joy, the transgender candidate for the Ohio House who was disqualified for using her legal name instead of her former on ballot petitions has lost her appeal.
The Stark County Board of Elections voted not to allow her on the ballot, citing a law from decades ago that requires all candidates to list on their signature petitions any name changes within five years.
"Heartbreaking is the word I would use for it," Joy told News 5 following the vote.
Joy tried to speak at the board meeting Tuesday afternoon but was told it wouldn't do much because the board had already voted.
She is a trans woman, one of the at least three running for state representative. Each is running to fight against the growing number of anti-trans legislation.
"I'm gonna have to wind up starting a lawsuit to challenge this because it's clear that this law was not known by many people," she said.
The law also wasn't applied fairly, she said, as the two other trans candidates were certified for the ballot.
"Ohio has officially used this law against me and only me," Joy added.
Last week, Joy reached out to Statehouse reporter Morgan Trau to share her situation. She was supposed to be a Democratic candidate for House District 50, covering Stark County, and she collected all the signatures she needed to run.
Even though Joy legally changed her name and her birth certificate — which she provided to the county board — the law prevented her from running due to when she changed her name.
RELATED: Ohio transgender candidate disqualified for only including legal name, not former name, on petitions
Not only is there nowhere to put it on the petition, but it isn’t included in the secretary of state’s 2024 candidate guide. It hasn't been on any candidate guides in recent years.
News 5 reached out to the office with numerous clarifying questions, like why the name change isn't included in the 33-page guide, but did not hear back.
At least two of the other trans candidates running also didn’t know the law, and didn’t include their dead names, but both were certified by their boards. One has a protest against her candidacy now.
Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and Facebook.
