Supreme Court Lets New Hampshire Reject Student IDs at the Polls, Citing Risk of Last-Minute Voter Confusion

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday let New Hampshire officials turn away student IDs as proof of identity when voters cast ballots in next month's midterm elections. Fox News reports the ruling is not a final decision on the merits.

The background. Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed House Bill 323 in April. It removed student IDs from the list of identification expressly accepted for getting a ballot, and it took effect June 2. Secretary of State David Scanlan then sent guidance to election officials and held trainings. A lower-court judge later found that the state had gone further than the new law required. The judge ruled that officials still had to weigh student IDs alongside other evidence when a voter had no other way to verify identity.

The court's reasoning. The majority leaned on what is known as the Purcell principle: courts should avoid changing election rules close to an election because it can confuse voters. It pointed to the recent back-and-forth over Missouri's redistricting maps. "Here, the District Court did not point to anything that would justify deviating from that principle," the majority wrote.

The dissent. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said the principle did not apply. In her view, a federal court order that stops misleading statements about a state's election rules prevents confusion rather than causing it. "I would not disturb a clearly justifiable federal-court order issued to ensure that the public receives accurate information about a State's electoral processes," she wrote.

The state's reaction. New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella, a Republican, called the decision "an important victory" and said the state will keep defending its election laws.

Note for readers: the litigation over the law continues. Fox does not say who brought the suit or how many students could be affected.