Student ID Bans Threaten to Disenfranchise Young Voters

A wave of new voter ID laws across several states is making it harder for college students to cast ballots, prompting legal challenges and renewed concerns about the disenfranchisement of younger voters ahead of the November midterm elections.

New Hampshire became the latest state to ban registered voters from using student IDs to verify their identity at the polls when House Bill 323 took effect in June. Indiana has enacted a similar restriction, and Florida’s ban is set to begin in 2027. According to NPR, about three dozen states now have in-person voter ID laws, with some states banning student IDs entirely while others allow certain types depending on the school or whether the ID includes a photo and address.

Legal Battles Unfold in New Hampshire and Indiana

The restrictions have triggered a wave of litigation. In New Hampshire, the Coalition for Open Democracy filed a federal lawsuit on August 11 in U.S. District Court in Concord, arguing that HB 323 unconstitutionally burdens eligible students’ right to vote and discriminates against younger voters based on age. The suit seeks injunctions blocking the law before the state’s party primary on September 8, as reported by the Concord Monitor.

The lawsuit contends that the law “continues to privilege older voters while discriminating against younger voters by invalidating a form of identification disproportionately used by eighteen to twenty-five-year-olds.” It also argues that Secretary of State David Scanlan overstepped his authority by extending the ban to voter registration, a move the coalition says is illegal because registration is covered by a separate statute that was not amended by HB 323.

“It is clear that HB 323 is part of a long-running history of New Hampshire politicians making it harder for young people to vote,” the plaintiffs said in a statement, as CT Public/NHPR reported.

In Indiana, the legal fight has been equally contentious. U.S. District Judge Richard Young granted a preliminary injunction in April blocking the state’s student ID ban, ruling it “imposes unconstitutional burdens on students and young voters in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments,” according to WISH-TV. However, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted an emergency motion days later, staying the injunction and putting the ban back into effect. Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita called the appeals court decision a “big win for election integrity,” as Yahoo/WTHR reported.

No Evidence of Widespread Fraud

Central to the legal challenges is a striking absence of evidence that student IDs have been used for voter fraud. Judge Young noted in his ruling that “there is no evidence that student IDs have been used to engage in voter fraud or any other voting-related misconduct.” The judge also found it inconsistent that Indiana would ban student IDs while still permitting identification issued by the Veterans Administration, military, and Native American tribes, “many of which are less uniform than student IDs.”

Josh Montagne, an Indiana University student and plaintiff in the lawsuit, said he has voted three times using his student ID. “Senate Bill 10 singles out students like me and makes it harder for us to vote, despite zero evidence that allowing student IDs at the polls has led to even one case of voter fraud,” he said in a statement reported by Yahoo/WTHR.

Florida’s Upcoming Restriction

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a ban on accepting student IDs when checking in voters at the polls, set to take effect in 2027. The law also prohibits credit cards and retirement community identifications from being used as voter ID, as WFLX/AP reported. Civil rights organizations immediately filed a lawsuit challenging the measure.

Broader Context: The SAVE America Act

The state-level restrictions come amid President Trump’s push for the SAVE America Act, a sweeping Republican proposal to overhaul voting in federal elections. The bill would not allow in-person voters to use student IDs and currently lacks the 60 votes needed to overcome a Senate filibuster, as NPR reported. Trump has been holding up other legislation to force passage of the bill.

Disproportionate Impact on Younger Voters

Voting rights advocates argue that student ID bans disproportionately affect young people, who are less likely to hold driver’s licenses than previous generations. Michelle Kanter Cohen, policy director at the Fair Elections Center, told NPR that young people are “much less likely to obtain a driver’s license” than prior generations, partly due to ride-sharing, financial issues, and life circumstances.

Kristen Rodriguez, a Florida-based organizer for VoteRiders, noted that obtaining the documents needed for a state ID can be complicated. “It takes a lot of time to get those documents. And in some states, a birth certificate takes six to eight months to come,” she told NPR. “It’s usually a series of unfortunate events that lead someone to be without the documents that they need.”

What’s Next

The legal battles in New Hampshire and Indiana are ongoing, with the New Hampshire lawsuit seeking injunctions before the September 8 primary. Voting rights advocates are working to help students navigate the new requirements, while students themselves are organizing to inform their peers about the changes.

Will Nelson, co-president of the Dartmouth Civics Association, expressed concern about the long-term impact. “College is a very formative time for young minds and the civic traditions that you pick up,” he told NPR. “We’re just sad to see that some of our policymakers have decided to make it a little bit more difficult for us to participate in that storied tradition.”

As the midterm elections approach, the question of who gets to vote - and with what identification - remains one of the most contested battlegrounds in American democracy.