California Secretary of State Alex Padilla has announced earlier this week that the state would enlist help from Equality California Institute, a LGTBQ civil rights group, in educating poll workers what to do if a transgender person shows up to vote and it happens so that their new identity does not match the one that is already in the records.

Announcing the partnership, Padilla argued that insensitive treatment of transgender people at the polling stations is what discourages them from voting.

“Every eligible voter has a right to cast a ballot free from any unnecessary burdens or intimidation,” he said, adding that election officials “have a duty to facilitate the participation of all eligible voters.”

“What’s happening is that they’re coming in, (poll workers) are hassling them or asking for additional IDs and not treating them with respect,” Rick Zbur, executive director of Equality California, told San Francisco Chronical.

The timing of the training is crucial, Zbur stated, adding that "there’s certainly too much at stake next year to let that happen in California.” 

To ensure that LGBTQ people feel comfortable, country registrars would be handed out “training materials …that promote best practice for poll workers to engage with voters whose gender identity, expression or pronouns do not appear to match their name on the voter roll.” The manuals at issue are still to be developed, and are expected to be rolled out ahead of Super Tuesday on March 3, 2020, as the result of which Californians would send 416 pledged delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention.

The partnership would also see a “targeted” ‘Get Out the Vote’ campaign being launched to lure as many as possible LGBTQ community members to the polls.

California has one of the most relaxed forms of a voter ID law nation-wide, as residents are generally not required to present their IDs before they cast ballots. However, there are several cases when they might be asked to. For instance, first-time voters who register by mail and do not cite any identification document while doing that, might be required to show their IDs.

The initative, first of its kind nationwide, has sparked mixed reaction online. While some, like Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA)rejoiced at the move, calling it “terrific news for our transgender community,” others  slammed it as “a waste of money and time” and an example of pandering to a “special interest group.”

“Special interest groups never want equal treatment,” one commenter tweeted.

“As a Californian, I wonder why this governor feels the need to always showboat? What about the rest of us over here???” another chimed in.

California is home to an estimated 190,000 eligible transgender voters, of whom 150,000 are registered voters.

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