(NATIONAL – November 4, 2020) - Today, the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, the Transgender Law Center (TLC), and over 60 other trans-led organizations nationally are calling for every vote to be counted in the 2020 election before formally announcing the 46th President of the United States. This year saw more absentee, mail-in, and early voting than any previous election, and as such, will require additional time to guarantee that each ballot cast will be counted by election officials. Though President Trump is falsely declaring victory and denying the legitimacy of ballots legally received or counted after election day, every vote needs to be counted.

“Transgender people like everyone else deserve to have their votes counted regardless of how that vote was cast,” said Andy Marra, Executive Director of TLDEF. “Our community has been actively working to ensure transgender people are informed about their right to vote and today we are insisting on the value and importance of counting every vote before any winner is announced.”

“Serious and unprecedented threats to the democratic process and the safety of voters comes on the heels of four long years of horrific and targeted attacks on trans peoples’ healthcare, housing, employment, education, and lives and safety at the southern border by the Trump Administration,” said Kris Hayashi, Executive Director of Transgender Law Center. “Trans, gender nonconforming and nonbinary people have an unprecedented stake in the outcome of this election, and we are calling for our voices as voters to be counted and heard.”

The 2020 election is being held amid a global pandemic that has disproportionately impacted Black and brown communities throughout the country – the same communities who have been most impacted historically by voter disenfranchisement efforts and racist attempts to roll back voting rights or put impediments in the way of voting. This election is also being held during concurrent epidemics of police murders of Black people and violence and murder facing Black trans people in the U.S.

During this challenging and painful time, we have witnessed the leadership and resistance of trans, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary people. An expansion of mutual aid, always an integral part of our survival strategies, but widening to support more and more of us during the COVID-19 pandemic. The creation of new and innovative housing and shelter solutions in the face of the Trump Administration’s current efforts to deny trans people access to emergency shelter. The clear and visible leadership of Black trans, gender nonconforming and nonbinary people in the movement to end the crisis of police and state violence against Black people. The extraordinary organizing of trans migrants, trans people living with HIV, and disabled trans people demanding access to freedom, health, and safety in the face of a society that treats them as disposable.

Today, in an act of further resistance toward those individuals who seek to strip away the right to vote from so many people in this nation, the undersigned trans-led organizations are asking that everyone contact their Senators and Representatives and demand that every vote is counted in the 2020 election. TLC and TLDEF will also amplify the calls for direct action of our state and local partners around the nation; follow our Twitter feeds for information.

Additionally, voters who have experienced discrimination or intimidation at the polls, whether or not they were actually able to vote, can report it at TLDEF’s Election Day Discrimination website and an attorney will contact them. TLDEF will undertake advocacy with election officials and, if necessary pursue litigation, in order to eliminate discrimination against transgender people on Election Day.

Whatever the final outcome of this election, our organizations will redouble our commitment to fight for a future of liberation, equity, and equality for the transgender community in our country, so that the marginalization of trans people – especially Black and other trans people of color – is no longer an obstacle to voters expressing their will on Election Day in a free and fair election.

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APIENC San Francisco, California

Black Trans Advocacy Coalition Dallas, Texas

Brave Space Alliance Chicago, Illinois

Choosing Our Roots Anchorage, Alaska

Colorado Name Change Project Boulder, Colorado

Dem Bois Inc. San Pablo, California

Eastern PA Trans Equity Project Orefield, Pennsylvania

FORGE, Inc. Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Freedom Overground Atlanta, Georgia

Gender Benders Piedmont, South Carolina

Gender Odyssey Alliance Seattle, Washington

GenderNexus Indianapolis, Indiana

Hearts on a Wire Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Heartspark Press Olympia, Washington

House of Pentacles Durham, North Carolina

House of Tulip New Orleans, Louisiana

Intransitive Little Rock, Arkansas

La Gender Inc East Point, Georgia

Lavender Rights Project Seattle, Washington

LGBTQ Center of Durham Durham, North Carolina

Louisiana Trans Advocates Baton Rouge, Louisiana

LYRIC San Francisco, California

Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition Boston, Massachusetts

Metro Trans Umbrella Group St. Louis, Missouri

Ministries Beyond Welcome Winston-Salem, North Carolina

My Sistah’s House Memphis, Tennessee

National Center for Transgender Equality Washington, District of Columbia

New York Trans Advocacy Group (NYTAG) New York, New York

Out in the Open Brattleboro, Vermont

PFLAG New Hampshire Concord, New Hampshire

Point of Pride Eugene, Oregon

QLatinx Orlando, Florida

Rooted Resistance, LLC Tallahassee, Florida

San Francisco Transgender Film Festival San Francisco, California

Southern Arizona Gender Alliance Tucson, Arizona

The Transgender District San Francisco, California

Trans Can Work Los Angeles, California

Trans Lifeline Oakland, California

Trans Maryland Gaithersburg, Maryland

Trans Pride Initiative Dallas, Texas

Trans United Fund Birmingham, Alabama

Transcend the Binary Ferndale, Michigan

TRANScending Barriers Atlanta, Georgia

Transformative Freedom Fund Denver, Colorado

Transformative Justice Law Project of IL Chicago, Illinois

Transforming Families, MN Minneapolis, Minnesota

Transgender Allies Group (TAG) Reno, Nevada

Transgender Assistance Program of Virginia Virginia Beach, Virginia

Transgender Awareness Alliance Lexington, South Carolina

Transgender Education Advocates of Utah Salt Lake City, Utah

TransGender Education Association Fairfax, Virginia

Transgender Education Network of Texas (TENT) Austin, Texas

Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund (TLDEF) New York, New York

Transgender Law Center (TLC) Oakland, California

Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico

Transilient New York, New York

Translatinx Network New York, New York

Transmission, Inc Asheville, North Carolina

TransOhio Cleveland, Ohio

TransParent St. Louis, Missouri

TransSOCIAL, Inc. Miami, Florida

U.T.O.P.I.A. SEATTLE Kent, Washington

Unique Woman's Coalition Los Angeles, California