Supreme Court Upholds New Hampshire Limits on Student Voting Ids

WHO:

CNN - New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan, a Republican, and the Republican National Committee supported the state’s request to limit the use of student IDs for voting.

NBC News - The Supreme Court granted an emergency request filed by New Hampshire and backed by the Republican National Committee.

CNN - Coalition for Open Democracy, a voting rights group, sued over New Hampshire officials’ interpretation of the law.

NBC News - Coalition for Open Democracy, a nonprofit voting rights group, argued the law unlawfully burdened the right to vote and discriminated against young voters.

CNN; NBC News - Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the sole dissenter; she questioned the ruling and wrote that she would not disturb the lower court order.

NBC News - The New Hampshire Senate race is between Republican former Sen. John E. Sununu and Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas for the seat held by retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.

WHAT:

CNN; NBC News - The Supreme Court allowed New Hampshire to bar student IDs from being used as backup evidence of a voter’s identity when requesting a ballot; they already could not be used as a primary form of identification under state law.

CNN - The unsigned order invoked the “Purcell principle,” which cautions courts against changing election rules close to an election; the court did not provide a vote count.

NBC News - The unsigned order said the district court had not identified anything that justified deviating from the principle against changing voting rules close to an election.

CNN - Jackson wrote that the court had not fully defined the limits of the “Purcell principle” and that the lower court had changed the state’s interpretation, not the law enacted by the legislature.

NBC News - The decision affects a closely watched Senate race that could play a role in determining control of the chamber.

CNN - A CNN poll found Democrats had a 31-percentage-point advantage over Republicans among younger adults.

WHERE:

CNN; NBC News - The voting-ID dispute concerns New Hampshire.

NBC News - The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, based in Boston, declined to pause the district court’s ruling.

WHY:

CNN; NBC News - New Hampshire officials said the state law barred student IDs for any purpose when voters requested ballots; a federal judge ruled that interpretation went beyond the law, which barred student IDs only as a primary ID.

NBC News - The state sought Supreme Court intervention after the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to put the district court ruling on hold.

HOW:

CNN; NBC News - A state law enacted in the spring removed student IDs from the list of identification forms accepted when someone requests a ballot; a separate provision allows identity to be established using other unofficial evidence.

NBC News - The law permits “any other evidence that reasonably establishes that it is more likely than not that the person is who they claim to be.”

CNN; NBC News - On October 2, a federal district court blocked or put on hold Scanlan’s guidance barring student IDs for any purpose, allowing election officials to consider them alongside other evidence.

(UPDATED October 23, 2026 00:11 UTC)

The Supreme Court has allowed New Hampshire to bar student IDs as backup evidence when voters request a ballot. The unsigned order invoked the “Purcell principle,” which cautions against changing election rules close to an election, and said the district court had not justified departing from it. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the lone dissenter, arguing that the lower court changed the state’s interpretation, not the law passed by the legislature. The dispute began after state officials said a law enacted in the spring barred student IDs for any purpose in ballot requests. A federal judge disagreed, allowing election officials to consider student IDs alongside other evidence, and the appeals court declined to pause that ruling. Voting rights group Coalition for Open Democracy sued, saying the interpretation burdened voting rights and discriminated against young voters. The decision affects a closely watched Senate race between Republican John E.