The Student ID Fight Reaches the Court

By Grant Keller | Prodigal Breaking News | prodigalbreakingnews.com

What happened

New Hampshire passed House Bill 323 this year, removing student IDs from the list of IDs voters can show to get a ballot. Voters without an accepted photo ID can still establish identity through other evidence. Secretary of State David Scanlan told election officials not to count student IDs as that other evidence either.

The Coalition for Open Democracy sued in August. U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante left the law in place but ruled that Scanlan went too far by categorically barring officials from considering student IDs. The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals kept that ruling in place.

On Thursday, October 22, the Supreme Court paused Laplante's order in a short, unsigned decision. It cited the principle that "lower federal courts should ordinarily not alter the election rules on the eve of an election." Justice Jackson dissented, writing that the lower court hadn't rewritten state law but was trying to "ensure that the public receives accurate information about a State's electoral processes." New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella praised the decision.

What it means

This is an emergency order, not a final ruling on whether the ban is constitutional. That case continues. For November 3, though, a student ID won't get a New Hampshire voter a ballot or help prove who they are. Students need another accepted ID or the state's other verification process.

The pattern

"Too close to the election to change the rules" sounds neutral. In practice it decides which version of the rules voters get, and here that's the strictest one. The cost lands on the voters least likely to carry a driver's license: students, many of them voting for the first time.

Notice the pattern. Interrupt it.

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Sources: CBS News/AP; Democracy Docket; WBUR; PBS NewsHour; CNN (headline).