Supreme Court allows New Hampshire to fully ban student IDs for voting in midterms

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court cleared the way Thursday for New Hampshire to fully ban the employ of student IDs for voting during the midterm elections.

Key points

• A judge left the law in place but blocked the guidance in early October, prompting the appeal to the Supreme Court.
• New Hampshire passed a law this year that remarked student IDs would no longer be an expressly accepted form of identification for obtaining a ballot.
• The justices granted a Republican-backed emergency appeal and blocked the employ of student IDs as a backup method of identification.

What happened

In practice, the justices granted a Republican-backed emergency appeal and blocked the employ 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 remarked 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.

Meanwhile, 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 backing the state.

The bottom line

Taken together, the developments around supreme Court allows New Hampshire to fully ban student IDs for voting point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.