Summary
<p>On March 5, the State Senate passed HB 323 in a 16-8 vote, advancing a bill that would ban student IDs for voting, which is now headed to the Governor's desk. ❌ As of March 20, HB 323 remains with the Office of Legislative Services (OLS), meaning there is still time to act before it is signed by legislative leaders and sent to the Governor. 🚨</p>
<p>If signed into law, HB 323 would disproportionately impact young voters and ultimately discourage student participation in New Hampshire's elections. It would be the latest in a series of tightening restrictions on voting access in NH in recent years.</p>
<p>👨‍⚖️ This unwarranted legislation would also invite costly litigation to the state: Legal challenges around the US have increasingly raised constitutional concerns about restrictions on student IDs for voting, particularly under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and the Twenty-Sixth Amendment’s protections against age-based discrimination. In 2024, a federal court struck down a similar law in Montana, finding that restrictions targeting student voters were unconstitutional. The court questioned the justifications, noting "there is no evidence of significant or widespread voter fraud in Montana, let alone any fraud" that these laws would remedy.</p>
<p>And just this past October, a federal judge in Indiana refused to dismiss a lawsuit challenging Indiana's student voting ID ban. The judge wrote that "By removing a form of identification used by ‘tens of thousands of young voters’ in Indiana, SB 10 makes voting more difficult for student voters than it was before the law was enacted," and that "Students seeking alternative forms of identification face special barriers at every step of the process. Obtaining a state ID card from the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles (‘BMV’) requires time, travel, and documentation that can be difficult to obtain and that students are significantly less likely to have than older voters."</p>
<p><strong>We still have time to campaign against this alarming attempt to rollback even more voting rights in the Granite State. Tell Gov. Ayotte to VETO HB 323 when it gets to her desk.</strong><br /> </p>
