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

The Supreme Court ruled that New Hampshire can prohibit the use of student IDs for voting in the upcoming midterm elections, according to CBS News and NBC News.

This decision came after the court granted a Republican-backed emergency appeal that blocked a federal judge's order which had allowed student IDs as a backup form of identification.

New Hampshire had passed a law earlier this year removing student IDs from the list of accepted voter identification forms. The state's secretary of state issued guidance to enforce the ban, which was temporarily blocked by a judge before the Supreme Court's intervention.

The Supreme Court invoked the Purcell principle, which discourages changing election rules close to an election, to justify its decision. The order was unsigned, with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson dissenting, arguing the principle did not apply in this case.

Republican New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella praised the ruling as a victory for election integrity, while the Republican National Committee supported the state's position. The ruling affects the closely watched Senate race on the New Hampshire ballot this November.