California Secretary of State Alex Padilla will announce a first-in-the-nation partnership Friday with an LGBTQ civil rights group to train poll workers to make it easier for gender-nonconforming and transgender voters to cast ballots, The Chronicle has learned.

In most cases, California voters are not required to show identification to a polling-place worker. Still, many transgender and gender-nonconforming voters may be registered under a name that does not match their gender presentation.

That can lead to situations when voters are asked to produce additional identification or even a utility bill. Advocates and state officials fear that such experiences could depress turnout among California’s estimated 190,000 eligible transgender voters, potentially affecting tight races.

“What’s happening is that they’re coming in, (poll workers) are hassling them or asking for additional IDs and not treating them with respect,” said Rick Zbur, executive director of Equality California, the group that will help create the training program for the state at no charge. “We know that when people are hassled, they avoid unpleasant experiences.”

The training is “potentially groundbreaking,” said Jody Herman, a public policy scholar at UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute and an expert on transgender issues. “California often goes first on issues that are of concern to the LGBTQ community.”

In California, 63% of transgender adults who have transitioned reported that they had no ID or records that accurately reflect their gender, according to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey that was conducted by the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Even though there are few statistics on how many LGBTQ voters don’t cast ballots because of treatment at the polls, advocates say there is no shortage of anecdotal stories like Allison VanKuiken’s.

After seeing that her appearance does not match the male name on voter rolls, poll workers have asked the 39-year-old transgender woman from Glendale (Los Angeles County) to produce identification including her Social Security card and utility bill.

“Who carries their Social Security card with them?” said VanKuiken.

Sometimes, VanKuiken said, she will “dress down” to appear more masculine to avoid the hassle at the polls. The experience can be “absolutely discouraging,” but VanKuiken said she still casts her ballot.

“If this is discouraging to me — and I’m pretty committed to making my vote count — I can imagine how it must be to other people who don’t want that kind of interaction,” said VanKuiken, executive director of Trans Can Work, which provides workplace training focused on the LGBTQ community.

It’s worse in states where voters are required to provide identification at the polls. A 2018 study by the Williams Institute found that stricter photo ID laws “may create substantial barriers to voting and possible disenfranchisement for over 78,000 transgender people in eight states.”

VanKuiken worries that the problem will grow as the younger generation becomes eligible to vote. A 2017 Williams Institute survey found that 27% of California teens identified as gender nonconforming.

The training could be simple. Just instructing poll workers to ask a voter “what pronouns they prefer” would be helpful, VanKuiken said.

“Even though there may not be a mandate to do something or a need to respond to a million complaints about it, I’d rather not wait to do something about it,” Padilla told The Chronicle. He said training poll workers will be done at no additional cost to taxpayers.

Padilla will announce the program Friday at Equality California’s annual Fair Share for Equality policy forum in San Francisco. He expects to have the training completed in time for the March 3 primary.

Some cities have created training programs, but this is believed to be the first for a state, said Gillian Branstetter, spokeswoman for the National Center for Transgender Equality Action Fund.

The organization recently started Transform the Vote, the first national voter-engagement campaign designed to reach the transgender community. It includes guidelines for what transgender voters should do if they are hassled at the polls.

“Voting is critical for transgender people as our rights become an increasing focus of lawmakers and candidates,” Branstetter said. “Transgender people cannot afford to ignore politics, because politics will not ignore us.”

Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicle’s senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli