ID laws present new challenges for transgender community

[theHandpuppet]

http://america.aljazeera.com/blogs/scrutineer/2014/10/16/transgender-voterid.html
ID laws present new challenges for transgender community
by Anna Lekas Miller

On Wednesday, the Arkansas Supreme Court struck down the state’s controversial voter ID law, deeming it unconstitutional to require additional information not already listed in the Arkansas Constitution to vote.

Despite the voting rights victory, eight states — including Texas, which recently reinstated requirements similar to those struck down in Arkansas — still have strict voter identification laws in place. Although these typically GOP-sponsored laws disproportionately affect groups that tend to favor Democrats at the polls — such as African-Americans, college students and low-income voters — there is one, less frequently discussed community that often gets disenfranchised by these requirements: transgender voters.

“Anytime you do anything involving ID documents, you are going to impact the transgender community,” said Mara Keisling, Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality.

While 84,000 transgender citizens are registered to vote in the eight states with restrictive ID statutes, 28 percent do not have updated identity documents that accurately reflect their gender. In states with strict voter identification laws, these voters run the risk of being turned away from the polls — or being discouraged from voting, due to the increased scrutiny. A recent study from the Williams Institute [PDF] found that this could disenfranchise up to 24,000 people in the upcoming elections.... MORE at link provided above.

[Joe Magarac]

1. Considering that most ID these days is photo ID ...

Considering that most ID these days is photo ID, why have an "official" designation of ones' gender at all?

It doesn't add anything to the ID's ability to ID you.