Legal Battle Over Use Of Student IDs To Vote In NH Heads To U.S. Supreme Court

By ZACH LAIRD, InDepth NH

Secretary of State David M. Scanlan’s motion for a stay on the legal proceedings in a lawsuit that challenges the use of student IDs to vote has been denied by the First Circuit Court of Appeals, though an emergency stay has been requested from the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Secretary of State’s office filed a “Renewed Emergency Motion to Stay Preliminary Injunction Pending Appeal,” where it requested a stay of the district court’s Oct. 5, 2026, Preliminary Injunction Order. Previously, a federal judge ruled that student IDs can still be considered by election officials at polling places as evidence of voter identity in a lawsuit that challenges students being restricted from using them to vote. They can still be used for considering voter identification if supplemented with other documentation.

The motion was denied because the office failed to demonstrate that stay relief is in order, per court documents.

“The State has asked the United States Supreme Court for an emergency stay in this matter. New Hampshire has a strong interest in ensuring that its election laws are applied consistently and that local election officials have clear, workable guidance in administering elections,” said Michael Garrity, spokesman for the New Hampshire Office of the Attorney General.

House Bill 323 — which made student IDs a no longer valid form of identification to obtain a ballot — was signed into law by Gov. Kelly Ayotte in April. That same month, Scanlan released a directive advising that student IDs cannot be used as proof of ID when registering to vote, requesting an absentee ballot, or checking in to vote in an election. A lawsuit was filed in August by Free Speech for People, representing Coalition for Open Democracy (a voter education and outreach group) asking the Court to enjoin both HB 323 and Scanlan’s directive before the election.

“We at the League of Women Voters New Hampshire think this is a good ruling that student IDs should be considered in spite of the law passed last spring. Election officials should use other means to verify the identity of the person standing in front of them (and) presenting a student ID, to allow those people to vote,” said Liz Tentarelli, president of the League of Women’s Voters New Hampshire.

According to case documents from the District Court of New Hampshire, the state is enjoined from enforcing the April directive by Secretary of State David Scanlan to the extent that it prohibits or discourages New Hampshire election officials (and) polling station personnel from reviewing and considering student identification cards.

“On October 2, 2026, a federal district court judge in New Hampshire partially granted the Coalition for Open Democracy’s motion to protect the right of young New Hampshire residents to vote using their student identifications. We are pleased that the court enjoined as unconstitutional any effort by New Hampshire to prohibit or discourage voting officials from considering student IDs as evidence of identification when registering and voting in New Hampshire elections,” Free Speech for People said in an online statement.

Scanlan could not be reached for comment.

“The Court’s decision did not yet enjoin the recently enacted New Hampshire law, HB 323, that removed student IDs from that list. We will continue to urge the courts to recognize that HB 323 violates the constitutional right of students to vote and must be enjoined in its entirety,” the statement added.

After Judge Joseph N. Laplante reviewed submissions by both parties and held two evidentiary hearings, the Court granted the motion for preliminary injunctive relief in part. While the motion was denied with respect to HB 323 itself, it was granted in respect to Scanlan’s directive. The court enjoined enforcement of the directive “to the extent it prohibits or discourages election officials from considering student IDs as evidence of voter identity,” per the document.

Judge Laplante elaborated in the document, stating that under the Supreme Court’s standard for evaluating voting regulations,” even a minimal burden on the right to vote must be justified by the State’s interests, and the State has identified no interest served by the April Directive beyond those already served by HB 323.”

The Secretary of State also filed a motion for emergency stay, though that was denied.

Tentarelli shared her concerns that what’s happening will cause more confusion for students as the election is just around the corner.

“I think, unfortunately, students are going to feel confused, and when people are confused that suppresses the vote. It’s upsetting that this bill passed last spring, and when it did we started giving out advice that you need to get a government-issued ID and that a student ID would no longer serve. But when it got extended by the Secretary of State to include voter registration, that was an assumption that was not spelled out in the bill,” Tentarelli said.

She continued that now there are students confused who might be able to register using their student IDs (and) were told they can’t use them to register “but that’s simply false, because it wasn’t in the bill.” She said that’s why the lawsuit needed to be filed.

“Now we understand that the judge’s ruling says if a student does not have some other government-issued ID, then the student ID is fine for registering to vote because it proves their ID… The student still needs to prove where they live, prove age, and prove citizenship; that’s not affected by this ruling, and we’re not arguing against it,” she said.

She said she’s hoping that election officials at polling places will understand that the student ID can be used with other substantiating information to get a ballot (if that’s all the student has).

Tentarelli said they’re still encouraging students to bring out-of-state IDs and passports, even if they’re expired “because they meet the letter of the law, but if all you have is your student ID, you should be allowed to vote and we hope the election officials will understand that this court ruling just last week says it can be used under these special circumstances — there’s probably paperwork involved with it — but it can be used, and these students should be allowed to vote.”

This story was originally published by InDepth NH.