Less than two weeks before Election Day, the Supreme Court sided with New Hampshire. On Thursday, the justices let the state enforce its New Hampshire student ID rule for the Nov. 3 midterms. In short, a college ID card will not get anyone a ballot in the Granite State this fall.
The order was brief and unsigned. Even so, it carries real weight in a state with a toss-up Senate race. Here is what happened and why it matters.
What the Court Decided on the New Hampshire Student ID Rule
The justices granted an emergency request from New Hampshire, which had the backing of the Republican National Committee, NBC News reported. As a result, a federal judge’s Oct. 2 order is on hold while the case moves through the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Court leaned on a long-standing principle. “This court has repeatedly emphasized that lower federal courts should ordinarily not alter the election rules on the eve of an election,” the order said, according to Courthouse News Service. It added that the district court “did not point to anything that would justify deviating from that principle.”
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only dissenter. She argued the lower court had simply ordered the state to describe its own law accurately.
How the Fight Started
Earlier this year, New Hampshire lawmakers passed HB 323. That law removed student IDs from the list of photo IDs voters can show to get a ballot. Secretary of State David Scanlan, a Republican, said the bill was “clearly intended to prohibit the use of student identification cards for voting,” according to a statement filed in the Supreme Court case record.
Scanlan then issued guidance saying student IDs could not be used for any purpose when seeking a ballot. However, a voting rights group, the Coalition for Open Democracy, sued. U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante declined to block the law itself. Then, on Oct. 2, he put Scanlan’s guidance on hold. He said the guidance went further than the law, which only barred student IDs as a primary form of ID.
Under that ruling, election officials could still weigh a student ID as backup evidence of who a voter is. The 1st Circuit refused to pause the ruling, so the state went to the Supreme Court.
Why the New Hampshire Student ID Order Matters in November
New Hampshire’s ballot includes one of the most closely watched Senate races in the country. Republican former Sen. John E. Sununu faces Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas for the seat held by retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, NBC News reported.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg Law noted that polls show young voters heavily favoring Democrats. For that reason, the outlet said the order could give Republicans a modest boost as they try to flip the seat.
Critics will call this voter suppression. Yet the law still offers a path for people without a standard ID. A separate provision lets voters prove who they are with “any other evidence that reasonably establishes that it is more likely than not that the person is who they claim to be,” according to NBC News.
The Conservative Take
This is a win for clear rules and for voters. Changing election procedures a month before people vote invites confusion, and the Court has said so for years. Scanlan made the same point. He warned that voters could show up “with only their student IDs in hand” and still be turned away, even under the judge’s own reading.
Moreover, voter ID is about trust. A student ID card is easy to get and often lacks the checks behind a driver’s license or passport. Most Americans show a government ID to board a plane or pick up a prescription. Asking for one to choose a U.S. senator is not a burden. It is common sense.
Finally, notice who wrote this law. New Hampshire’s elected legislature did, not a court. States run their own elections, and federal judges should be slow to rewrite those rules at the last minute. For more on the midterms, follow our coverage in Politics.
