Supreme Court Lets New Hampshire Bar Student IDs at Polls
Is this voter suppression aimed at young people or common-sense election integrity?
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Above: A New Hampshire voting location on Feb. 9, 2016. Image credit: Matthew Cavanaugh/Getty Images
The Facts
- The U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) granted a Republican-backed emergency appeal Thursday, allowing New Hampshire to bar voters from using student IDs as a backup form of identification in the midterm elections. The Republican National Committee backed the state.
- The unsigned, one-paragraph order invoked the Purcell principle, quoting a 2020 decision that lower federal courts "should ordinarily not alter the election rules on the eve of an election." The justices said the lower court gave no justification.
- Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only justice to publicly dissent, writing that the judge's order was aimed at alleged misinformation rather than at changing the law and that she would not disturb an order ensuring the public gets accurate information.
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The Spin
Democratic narrative
SCOTUS got this one wrong. Blocking student IDs at the polls is a targeted swipe at young voters who have every right to cast a ballot, and yanking a safeguard days before an election only breeds confusion. Access to the ballot box should never shrink based on how old a voter happens to be.
Republican narrative
A photo ID that anyone can obtain, including noncitizens, isn't proof of eligibility. Lawmakers set the rules in the spring, and a federal judge tried rewriting those rules weeks before ballots are cast. To protect election integrity, SCOTUS had to rule this way, making sure one shows real identification for a real vote.
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© 2026 Improve the News Foundation.
All rights reserved.
Version 7.18.3