Supreme Court lets New Hampshire enforce its ban on student IDs at the polls in the November midterms
NBC News, The New York Times and CBS News reported that the Supreme Court on Thursday, Oct. 22, allowed New Hampshire to enforce a ban on using student IDs to vote in the Nov. 3 election. SCOTUSblog reported that the order was unsigned and paused a federal judge's injunction that had required Secretary of State David Scanlan to revise guidance barring student IDs for any purpose. NBC News reported that the court said a federal judge should not have changed the rules so close to the election. SCOTUSblog reported that the court cited the Purcell principle. The Hill reported that the ruling lets officials fully block voters from using student IDs. SCOTUSblog reported that Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was the only noted dissenter. SCOTUSblog reported that the case continues in the lower courts.
The Purcell principle exists because last-minute changes to voting rules can confuse election officials and voters, and the justices applied it with the election days away. The order is a stay, a temporary decision on which rules apply while the lawsuit continues, not a final ruling on whether New Hampshire's law is lawful. New Hampshire has a large college population, so rules on student IDs reach a visible group of first-time voters.
If you vote in New Hampshire, bring an ID the state accepts as proof of identity, because a college ID will not work as a backup this November. Voters in other states can check their own state election office, since ID rules differ widely. Students who live on campus can ask their school about voter registration help.
New Hampshire's Republican officials and their supporters argue that the state should set its own ID rules and that a federal judge should not rewrite guidance weeks before an election. NBC News described the order as a win for Republicans, and the court's reliance on the Purcell principle fits that argument.
Justice Jackson wrote in dissent, SCOTUSblog reported, that the district judge's order was narrow and meant to address alleged misinformation rather than change the law. Critics of the ban, including the challengers who brought the case, argue that excluding student IDs falls hardest on young voters.
Confirmed: the Supreme Court paused the lower-court order, and student IDs cannot be used to prove identity in New Hampshire this November. Not confirmed: how many voters are affected, or how the lower courts will rule on the underlying law. Watch for guidance to New Hampshire clerks and for turnout reports from college towns on Nov. 3.
DailyDrop U.S. No. 19 · October 23, 2026