US Supreme Court lets New Hampshire reject student voter IDs
The court suspends a requirement to weigh student IDs alongside other evidence ahead of November’s midterms, while the challenge to the law continues.
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The court suspends a requirement to weigh student IDs alongside other evidence ahead of November’s midterms, while the challenge to the law continues.
The US Supreme Court on Thursday allowed New Hampshire officials to reject student IDs when voters seek ballots in November’s midterm elections. Its order suspends a lower-court requirement to consider those IDs alongside other evidence when voters lack another way to establish their identity.
The dispute follows a change in state law. Governor Kelly Ayotte signed House Bill 323 in April, removing student IDs from the list of identification expressly accepted for obtaining a ballot. The law took effect on June 2.
A lower-court judge found that state officials had gone further than the new law allowed. The judge required officials to consider student IDs together with other evidence when voters had no other means of verifying their identity. That requirement did not make a student ID sufficient on its own.
By blocking that requirement, the Supreme Court lets officials reject student IDs without considering them through the process the lower court had ordered.
The majority relied on the Purcell principle: the court’s concern that judicial orders issued too close to an election can confuse voters. It said the lower court had identified nothing that justified departing from that principle.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson disagreed. She argued that a court order stopping material misrepresentations about election rules prevents confusion rather than creates it. Jackson would have left the lower-court order in place to ensure the public received accurate information.
New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella welcomed the decision. He said the state was defending election integrity and applying its laws as written, and argued that last-minute court orders could create uncertainty for voters and election officials.
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For voters, the immediate consequence is that the blocked order no longer guarantees consideration of a student ID alongside other evidence. Voters should check which alternative identification or voting procedures apply rather than assume a student ID will be considered.
The Supreme Court has not made a final ruling on the legal arguments in the case. The underlying litigation over the law remains ongoing.
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