What New Hampshire's Student-ID Voting Ban Changes for College Voters
New Hampshire has long had an unusually large share of college students. That makes a fight over what identification they can use at the polls more than a technical rule. It shapes who can cast a ballot in a competitive state.
The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed New Hampshire to enforce a ban on student IDs for midterm voting, according to Democracy Docket. The order granted the state's emergency request. The practical effect: election officials must apply the state's ban through the midterms while litigation continues.
How the ban works
Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed HB 323, which eliminated student IDs as an acceptable form of identification for getting a ballot. The law did not stop there. Secretary of State David Scanlan sent local election officials a directive saying they could no longer accept student IDs as part of the process of proving identity, including under the state's 'safety-valve' provision. That provision lets voters present other evidence to prove who they are when they lack standard ID. The directive narrowed that route too.
A lower court drew a line. Judge Laplante ruled that the student ID ban could stand but that Scanlan had exceeded his authority by telling officials to reject student IDs even in the safety-valve process. The First Circuit upheld that ruling. New Hampshire then asked the Supreme Court for a stay before Election Day. The Supreme Court granted it, allowing the full ban to take effect.
Why students are affected
New Hampshire is home to about 66,000 university students, according to Democracy Docket. As of 2017, it had the highest number of students per capita, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Many are first-time voters. The concern is that some may lack government-issued ID. The Coalition for Open Democracy, which sued over the ban, said the ruling 'will deprive young voters of their right to vote' and could leave first-time voters without the ID needed to get through DMV appointments, fees, vouchers, and trips to multiple offices before Election Day.
The political stakes are clear. College students overwhelmingly vote Democratic—64% to 25% Republican, according to a Harvard youth poll. Democracy Docket reports that the order could have a major impact on the state's closely watched U.S. Senate race.
What election administrators face
Local officials now have to apply a rule that changed late in the cycle. They must decide which documents count, explain the safety-valve process to voters who arrive without accepted ID, and handle challenges at the polls. The exact number of students who will be turned away is not known. The rule does not bar students from voting as such; it removes one form of identification. But the dispute is no longer only about student IDs as a convenience. It is about whether a group large enough to sway a statewide race can prove its identity at the ballot box.