Fact Check: Did Michelle Obama register to vote as a man in 1994?
WASHINGTON, DC: An old photograph of former President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, has been circulating on social media, showing a voter identification card, which is shared with the claim that the former first lady was once registered to vote as a man, sparking speculations among many. Let us analyze and fact-check the viral claim.
Claim: Michelle Obama once registered to vote as a man
The viral image from 1994 shows the image of the couple, accompanied by a voter registration record, which appears to show Michelle Obama’s gender identity as ‘male.’
The image has been circulated, accusing Mrs. Obama of fraud. The picture has been making rounds on various social media platforms such as X, Facebook, and Reddit, garnering millions of views.
While many appeared to believe the claim to be true, a few others remained skeptical and questioned the authenticity of the claim.
Fact Check: Fake, image is digitally altered
The image is digitally altered, and it first emerged in 2023 on Facebook amid a wave of anti-LGBTQ misinformation, and surfaced again recently.
In the card, the space to indicate the applicant’s sex, the M is circled, and in a section for the applicant’s name, if changed, Obama’s maiden name is misspelled as ‘Michelle L Robison,’ while her maiden name is Robinson.
Matt Dietrich, a public information officer for the Illinois State Board of Elections, clarified to PolitiFact that the agency doesn’t keep original voter registration cards like the one that appears in the posts.
According to Dietrich, the card pictured in the video didn’t originate from the Illinois agency, stating, “We have no record of this voter’s record ever indicating any gender other than female."
The original image in the viral claim was posted by Obama on Instagram in 2019.
Michelle Obama says standards were harsher for her family
Michelle Obama recently reflected on the scrutiny her family faced as the first Black White House family and said current behavior wouldn’t be tolerated.
Michelle Obama took a swipe at the current administration during a recent episode of her podcast, saying the kind of behavior seen today would never have been accepted if it had come from her family when they lived in the White House.
Speaking with comedian and television host Conan O'Brien during the Wednesday, March 3, episode of her podcast, Obama reflected on the intense scrutiny she and former President Barack Obama faced while serving in the nation’s highest office.
During the conversation, she said the expectations placed on them were far higher because they were the first Black family to live in the White House.
