Turning the Tables: How We Forced Fairer Ballot Access Despite GOP Meddling

Since my former opponent is proudly taking a victory lap over her bill designed to meddle in Democratic primaries, I think it’s only fair to take one of my own.  

Let’s not forget how she tried to have me kicked off the ballot over a name-change provision that almost no one knew about—on forms that didn’t even provide the space to comply. And let’s not forget how the GOP insisted the forms were perfectly fine, even though they failed to give candidates any way to meet the requirements.

Well, guess what? Thanks to the fight we put up, those forms have been updated. They now include instructions about the name-change provision and provide the actual space to comply. This is proof that they always knew the old forms were inadequate. While I don’t believe trans candidates should have to list their deadnames, at least now they have the ability to comply if needed—and we accomplished that without me even being elected.

Oh, and by the way, none of this will matter for me in the next statehouse race, as I’ll be well beyond the five-year timeframe anyway.