Supreme Court upholds New Hampshire voting restrictions ahead of midterms, authorizes ban on student IDs at polls

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that New Hampshire election officials may completely prohibit voters from using student IDs as identification at polling places during the upcoming midterm elections, thereby granting an emergency motion supported by the Republican National Committee (RNC). The case takes on special political significance, as New Hampshire is among the states that could prove decisive in determining which party will control the Senate following the midterm elections. In the race to fill the seat that Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen will vacate upon her retirement, Democratic Representative Chris Pappas will face off against former Republican Senator John Sununu.

The Supreme Court overturned a federal court ruling that had challenged the application of state restrictions on the use of student IDs as voter identification. The judge had ruled that, when a person did not have another document to prove their identity, authorities should also evaluate their student ID and any other available evidence, rather than automatically rejecting it.

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However, the Supreme Court focused its objections on the timing of that judicial intervention and warned of the risks of altering election rules when the election is so close. To support their position, the justices invoked the Purcell principle, a doctrine that urges judges to avoid last-minute changes to voting procedures due to the potential for confusion among citizens and election officials. "In this case, the District Court did not point to anything that would justify departing from that principle," the majority wrote.

Far from being the first time the Supreme Court has intervened in such cases in recent months, the truth is that the high court has recently been asked to intervene in several high-profile election disputes ahead of next month's midterm elections. Among them is a decision made in mid-September, when the Supreme Court rejected President Donald Trump's proposal to change the procedure for sending mail-in ballots to voters nationwide.