US midterm elections 2026: New Hampshire voters face last-minute shake-up as Supreme Court blocks student IDs weeks before voters head to polls

In a big win for Republicans, the Supreme Court said Thursday that student IDs cannot be used in New Hampshire for the midterm elections, reported NBC News. Earlier, a lower court judge ruled that officials cannot automatically dismiss student IDs when checking a voter's identity. The court had ruled that officials still had to consider student IDs alongside other evidence when voters lacked other means of verifying their identity. But the Supreme Court took issue with the judge intervening this close to the elections.

"Here, the District Court did not point to anything that would justify deviating from that principle," the majority wrote in its opinion. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a liberal, wrote a dissent questioning the application of the Purcell doctrine in the case.

"When a federal court determines that material misrepresentations are being made about a State’s election rules, an injunction to prohibit that conduct does not contribute to public confusion, it prevents that very problem," Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote. "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.


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What New Hampshire Governor said

This comes after Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed House Bill 323 into law in April, removing student IDs from the list of identification expressly considered valid for obtaining a ballot. The law took effect June 2. After the law went into effect, New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan issued guidance to election officials about the change, and multiple trainings were held.

"New Hampshire has a responsibility to protect the integrity of its elections and ensure that election laws are applied as written," New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella, a Republican, said in a statement.

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"The Supreme Court’s decision is an important victory for our efforts to defend those laws and prevent last-minute court orders from creating uncertainty for voters and election officials. We will continue to defend New Hampshire’s election laws and the safeguards they provide," he continued.

US District judge Joseph Joseph Laplante did not block the law restricting the use of student IDs for voting. However, on October 2, he put the New Hampshire secretary of state's guidance on hold.

Secretary of State David Scanlan, a Republican, had instructed election officials not to accept student IDs for any purpose when people applied for a ballot. Laplante said this went beyond what the law required, as the law only stopped student IDs from being used as the main form of identification.

Another state law allows voters to prove their identity using other forms of evidence, even if those documents are not officially recognized IDs. Officials can consider any evidence that makes it more likely than not that the person is who they claim to be.

Under Laplante's ruling, election officials could still consider a student ID alongside other evidence when checking whether someone was eligible to vote.

When is New Hampshire voting?

New Hampshire voters will fill an open Senate seat in November to replace the retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. A recent CNN poll found that Democrats enjoy a 31 percentage point advantage over Republicans among younger adults. New Hampshire does not offer in-person early or no-excuse absentee voting.

In the United States, early voting has been underway for weeks ahead of the November 3, 2026, midterm elections. The polls have been taking place as US voters will elect members of the House of Representatives and Senate and governors in states across the country. As Election Day approaches, polling hours will vary across the country, with voting times differing by state and, in some cases, by local jurisdiction.