Supreme Court allows New Hampshire to fully ban student IDs for voting in midterms
Oct 22, 2026, 4:13 PM
The Supreme Court is pictured Monday, Oct. 5, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
Credit: AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib
(AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court cleared the way Thursday for New Hampshire to fully ban the use of student IDs for voting during the midterm elections.
The justices granted a Republican-backed emergency appeal and blocked the use of student IDs as a backup method of identification. The Supreme Court cited a longstanding legal principle that judges shouldn’t change voting rules too close to Election Day.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only justice to publicly dissent.
New Hampshire passed a law this year that said student IDs would no longer be an expressly accepted form of identification for obtaining a ballot. The secretary of state then issued guidance barring them as a backup way to prove a voter’s identity.
A judge left the law in place but blocked the guidance in early October, prompting the appeal to the Supreme Court. The Republican National Committee weighed in to support the state.
The decision comes less than two weeks before New Hampshire voters cast ballots in a closely contested U.S. Senate race.
