Shifting state requirements around gender markers on identifying documents have left thousands of LGBTQ+ people with invalid IDs on the eve of the midterms — an obstacle that experts warn may be driving queer communities away from the ballot box.

Multiple states this year have passed laws banning residents from updating their gender identity markers on IDs, forcing many transgender and queer residents to choose between publicly denying their gender identity and navigating their daily lives — and now, polling places — with inaccurate licenses and birth certificates. GOP lawmakers in states like Texas, Kansas and Tennessee have couched some of these efforts in issues like combating voter fraud and maintaining clean demographic data.

But legal experts and civil rights advocates cast the measures as an intimidation and voter suppression tactic aimed at members of the LGBTQ+ community — and transgender people in particular — seeking legal documents that reflect their gender identity. Without the right documents, Election Day can be especially difficult to navigate for transgender people.

“When someone cannot update their government-issued documents to reflect who they are, everyday interactions can become occasions for unwanted disclosure, questioning or humiliation,” said Texas Rep. Jessica González, chair of the state House LGBTQ Caucus, in an interview with MS NOW. “Baseless policy changes targeting a small segment of our community are just cruel, and it has become clear that attacking the trans community is the new norm in states like Texas.”

Shifting gender marker laws could impact thousands of would-be voters. An analysis published in September by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law estimates that more than 400,000 of the 1.3 million voter-eligible transgender Americans lack documents that align with their gender identity or name.

Although it is illegal to deny someone their right to vote because of their gender or race, trans residents in states that require IDs at polling places may face extra hurdles, like entering into a separate provisional ballot process, if their information doesn’t match government records.

Or they may decide not to participate in the midterms.

“There are some trans people who end up just not voting at all for the fear of having a potentially uncomfortable and unsafe interaction in person,” said Naveen Farrani, a communications manager with Equality Texas Action, a nonprofit LGBTQ+ rights organization. Kansas is one of at least eight states to outright ban gender marker changes.

Those measures are having a disproportionate affect on the LGBTQ+ community. The state previously allowed residents to display their preferred gender identity on state-issued IDs, starting in 2007. But that right was withdrawn this year after the GOP’s transgender culture war reached a fever pitch in Kansas: Years of lawsuits and court battles, spearheaded by Republican Attorney General Kris Kobach, ended in February when the state legislature passed Senate Bill 244, which not only banned gender marker changes on birth certificates and driver’s licenses, but also invalidated IDs of people whose gender markers don’t align with their assigned sex at birth.

Analysis published in October by the University of California, Los Angeles estimates that of the 15,900 trans residents with Kansas state-issued licenses, about 3,300 have IDs that have been invalidated by S.B. 244.

Letters were sent to some of those affected to notify them of the change. They can still technically vote, but the laws have caused confusion, fear and anxiety for some trans voters, especially those who have to present these invalidated IDs at polling locations.

“It feels like a voter suppression-like tactic,” said Anthony Alvarez, a trans Kansan who has had to change his state ID three times in response to the ever-shifting regulations. His ID currently reflects his gender identity as male, not his assigned sex at birth.

“In the spring of 2026 to invalidate a bunch of licenses when there’s a major midterm coming up … it matters that this is now an obstacle for us in order to vote,” Alvarez said.

Adam Kellogg is another member of the trans community in Kansas who said he felt nervous any time he has to present his ID, which he had changed four times to comply with the state.

“I have had a couple of issues with handing my ID over when it says female where I’ve had employers ask me if that’s really me. I’ve had pharmacy clerks ask if that’s really me, implying that I’m trying to take illicit substances from them,” he said.

Kobach, who is running for re-election, argued before the House Judiciary Committee in January that ID changes could hamper law enforcement efforts, and suggested that “vital statistics, used for public health and demographic data, must be grounded in objective biology and history to maintain reliability.”Kellogg and Alvarez said they don’t just feel targeted by politicians on the right, they feel abandoned by some Democrats, too.

“I have a lot of complaints about the way the Democratic Party handles trans issues …whenever there’s more of a shift to the right, they suddenly take it as ‘all right, so a bunch of these issues have to go. Trans people are first,’” Alvarez said.

Adam Hamilton, a pastor and Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, told MS NOW that helping Kansans counter GOP efforts to strip rights from queer communities is a top priority.

“I love trans people. I mean, I just want people to know I’m going to care for them, and I stand for them, and for everyone else,” he said. “I think my greatest concern is how some — I’ll just say my opponent and the president and others — have taken a small group of people, turned them into a campaign issue, and are harming people who are already bullied and picked on. And I don’t think that’s OK.”Hamilton is running against Republican incumbent Sen. Roger Marshall, who in a recent debate said Democrats under Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s leadership are “pushing this transgender ideology” on Kansans.

MS NOW accompanied Alvarez and Kellogg to cast their early votes in Lawrence. Kellogg reverted his gender marker back to female to comply with a letter the state sent him, while Alvarez said he never received a letter and still has male on his ID. They both described being nervous outside the polling location.

“For me, if they scrutinize it and they say like, ‘Hey, this says female, but obviously you’re not. Like, this isn’t your ID,’ I’d be worried about what kind of recourse I have to say, ‘Yes, it is.’ Like, I don’t know what would be next,” Kellogg said.

Lawyer and University of Kansas professor Mark Johnson told MS NOW that, in addition to poll workers potentially challenging a person’s identification, official poll watchers have the ability to challenge voters who come to cast their ballots.

In Kansas, election observers, also known as poll agents, can report a problem, but they can’t personally stop a voter or take away their ballot. An election judge has the right to challenge a voter they suspect may not be qualified to vote.

Johnson argues that a trans voter with a different name, photo or gender marker that does not match their appearance or previous records could raise concerns among election workers.

“The best-intentioned election workers will look at this license and look at the person who gave them the license and say ‘this doesn’t match,’ and it has to match in order for the election worker to allow the person to vote, so I think we’ll actually lose voters because of that,” Johnson said.

With its potential for a chilling effect at the polls, Johnson said that legislation like S.B. 244 jeopardizes American democracy.

“Any time that we lose somebody in voting, you’re not going to lose one person. You will lose a group, dozens, hundreds, you know, whatever the number is. Will that change the results of election? Maybe not, but it certainly could,” he said.

Jamie Shew, the Douglas County clerk in Lawrence, where Alvarez and Kellogg voted, told MS NOW that rumors and misinformation about Election Day have been swirling more than ever this year.

“There’s just a lot of stuff that, whether it’s on purpose or not, being spread to keep people from coming in. Don’t let that stop you from coming in. Come in, and vote,” he said.

Alvarez and Kellogg were able to cast their ballots successfully, without harassment, pushing aside their anxieties over participating in the democratic process. And while they said there’s much work to be done to solidify rights for their community in Kansas, they’re ready to keep fighting for their home.

“People think Kansans are helpless, or that we are trapped here,” Kellogg said. “I love Kansas. I want to be here. That’s why I fight for it, and I’m not helpless. I don’t need someone to look upon me or any of us with pity. I need them to stand with me.”