Trans candidate facing disqualification now cleared to run despite omitting deadname

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A transgender candidate vying for a seat in the Republican-majority Ohio House was cleared to run Thursday after her certification had been called into question for omitting her former name on qualifying petitions as required by a little-used state elections law.

The Mercer County Board of Elections chose not take up a vote on disqualifying Arienne Childrey, a Democrat from Auglaize County who is one of four transgender individuals campaigning for the Legislature, for not disclosing her previous name on petition paperwork.

Childrey, who legally changed her name in 2020, has said she would have provided her deadname — the name a transgender person was assigned at birth but does not align with their gender identity — if she had known about the law.

“I would have filled out whatever was necessary, because at the end of the day, while it would have been a hit to my pride, there is something much more important than my pride, and that’s fighting for this community,” Childrey said.

The Ohio law, unfamiliar even to many state elections officials, mandates that candidates disclose any name changes in the past five years on their petition paperwork, with exemptions for changes caused by marriage. But the law isn’t listed in the 33-page candidate requirement guide and there is no space on the petition paperwork to list any former names.

All four transgender candidates for the Legislature this year have run into issues with the name-change law, which has been in place in some form for decades but is rarely used — typically in the context of candidates wishing to use a nickname.

Earlier this month, the board received a protest to Childrey’s ballot certification from Mercer County Republican Party Chairman Robert J.