U.S. Supreme Court clears New Hampshire voter registration law ahead of midterms

(The Center Square) — The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for New Hampshire to prohibit the use of student identification cards to vote in federal, state, and local elections.

In a brief unsigned order posted late Thursday, the high court's conservative majority declined to intervene in the case by considering a ruling by U.S. District Court judge Joseph Laplante that pediatric upheld a New Hampshire law requiring students to have a government-issued photo ID, such as a driver’s license or passport, to vote. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson cast the only dissenting vote.

Justices wrote that the Supreme Court in recent rulings "has repeatedly emphasized that lower federal courts should ordinarily not alter the election rules on the eve of an election" and said the petitioners asking the court to take up the case "did not point to anything that would justify deviating from that principle." 

New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlon had petitioned the Supreme Court to take up the case and overturn the portion of LaPlante's ruling restricting the state from enforcing the law. The Republican National Committee filed a 'friend of the court' brief in support of the state's petition.

A bill signed by Gov. Kelly Ayotte in April eliminated a provision of state election law that allowed voters to present a college identification card to receive a ballot. 

Ayotte and other Republican proponents hailed the law, saying it reduces the likelihood of voter fraud from people using fake college identification.

The changes, long sought by New Hampshire Republicans, require students to show an ID issued by the federal government or an out-of-state driver’s license, ID card or U.S. passport in order to cast a ballot.

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After Ayotte signed the measure into law, Scanlan unilaterally extended that requirement to the state's voter registration process. 

That prompted a group called the Coalition for Open Democracy to file a federal lawsuit, alleging the requirement for students to show government-issued photo identification to register to vote and cast ballots "unconstitutionally burdens the right to vote, discriminates against young voters on account of their age, and unlawfully rewrites New Hampshire’s election statutes."

For years, state law has allowed students temporarily living in the Granite State to claim residency and vote. New Hampshire has more college students per capita than any other state.

But students are also a sizable chunk of the electorate that helped tip the state's vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, Joe Biden in the 2020 election, and Kamala Harris in 2024.

A 2024 law signed by then-Gov. Chris Sununu, requires identification to cast a ballot, without exceptions, and documented proof of U.S. citizenship for first-time New Hampshire voters to register to vote.

The high court's decision comes less than two weeks before New Hampshire voters will head to the polls to decide a closely contested U.S. Senate race between Republican former Sen. John E. Sununu and Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas that could help decide the balance of power in Washington.