Dave McKeegan isn’t who offered to fund a flat earther. He was himself funded by the guy who arranged the whole thing, same as the flat earther was. Dave McKeegan was simply a prominent debunker with skills as a photographer who accepted to take part in this venture.

If the official paperwork makes it impossible to follow the law, how then can these people run for office? If the law is on the books, then the forms should be made to include this option. That it doesn’t is akin to entrapment.

As per the excerpt of the article in this post:

But the law isn’t listed in the 33-page candidate requirement guide and there is no space on the petition paperwork to list any former names.

So it seems to me that it’s a law that in practice bans running within five years of (non marriage) name changes. Whether it’s unevenly enforced or not it clearly hits trans people disproportionately.