Transgender people face unique obstacles to obtaining identity documents (ID) that match their gender identity. Identity documents that do not match a person’s gender, such as a person’s name or gender marker, create obstacles to participating in many facets of public life, including voting. Such obstacles may affect voting in the 36 states with voter ID laws, especially the 33 that conduct their elections primarily in person. In these states, voters encounter additional verification requirements at the polls, in addition to federal standards for voter registration and eligibility determination. The strictest of these voter ID laws require voters to present government-issued photo ID at the polling place, and provide no alternative for voters who do not have a photo ID, or, as is often the case for transgender voters, have an inaccurate photo ID.

The Williams Institute analyzed voter ID laws across the United States in the lead-up to the November 2026 general election. Notably, since the 2024 presidential election, voters in at least 19 states face new restrictions for the 2026 general election that were not in place for the 2024 general election. As a result, we found that as many as 323,700 transgender Americans who are eligible to vote may find it difficult to do so because of voter ID laws, including 113,700 who could face disenfranchisement in states with strict photo ID requirements.

Key Findings

• An estimated 1,301,900 transgender adults in the U.S. are eligible to vote in the November 2026 general election.
• Forty-two states conduct their elections primarily in person at polling places, as opposed to primarily by mail.
  • Over 993,600 voting-eligible transgender Americans live in states that conduct their elections primarily in-person.
  • An estimated 43% of these individuals (425,300) lack identity documents that correctly reflect their name or gender.
  • These individuals may face barriers to voting in person because of a mismatch with their information as listed on voter registration rolls or otherwise because of voter ID laws.
• Thirty-three of the states that primarily conduct their elections in person at the polls also have voter ID laws. Voter ID laws can be strict or non-strict, and some require a photo ID, while others require different forms of identification.
  • About 657,300 voting-eligible transgender Americans live in these states.
  • Nearly half of these, or 323,700 individuals, do not have an ID that correctly reflects their name and/or gender.
  • Approximately 113,700 voting-eligible transgender people live in the states with the strictest voter ID laws (where government-issued photo ID is required to vote and few or no alternatives are available) and do not possess a valid ID.
  • These eligible voters could face substantial barriers and potential disenfranchisement in the November 2026 general election.
• Transgender people who are young adults, people of color, students, people with low incomes, people experiencing homelessness, and people with disabilities are likely overrepresented among the more than 323,700 voting-eligible transgender people who may face barriers to voting due to voter ID laws in the 2026 election cycle.