New Hampshire’s Ban on Student IDs Raises Concerns for Young Voters

New Hampshire became the latest state to bar voters from using student IDs to verify their identity at the polls when its ban took effect in June 2026, joining Indiana, which reinstated a similar law in April after a federal appeals court paused a lower court ruling that had found it likely unconstitutional, and Florida, where a ban signed this spring takes effect in 2027. The restrictions, which come as President Trump has separately pushed a stalled federal proposal to bar student IDs nationwide, have drawn a lawsuit from the Coalition for Open Democracy arguing New Hampshire’s law unconstitutionally burdens young voters, while supporters say the bans promote election security and more uniform verification standards. Voting rights advocates note that student IDs have long been a target of restrictive voting laws—states like Georgia and North Carolina already impose conditions on which student IDs qualify—and warn the newest bans will disproportionately affect young people, who are both less likely to hold a driver’s license than earlier generations and may struggle to gather the documents, such as birth certificates, needed to obtain a state ID. With no evidence of widespread fraud tied to student ID use at the polls, groups like VoteRiders and campus civics organizations are working to help students obtain compliant identification and understand the changing rules before this fall’s midterms.