New Hampshire lawmakers seek to tighten voting laws

(The Center Square) — New Hampshire lawmakers are moving to tighten that state’s voting laws by prohibiting high school or college students from using their student identification cards to vote in elections. The Republican-backed proposal, which recently cleared the state House of Representatives on a 190-148 party-line vote, would eliminate a provision of state election law […]

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(The Center Square) — New Hampshire lawmakers are moving to tighten that state’s voting laws by prohibiting high school or college students from using their student identification cards to vote in elections.

The Republican-backed proposal, which recently cleared the state House of Representatives on a 190-148 party-line vote, would eliminate a provision of state election law allowing voters to show a college identification card to receive a ballot. Instead, students would be required to present an ID issued by the federal government or an out-of-state driver’s license, ID card, or U.S. passport.

Proponents of House Bill 323 say many students who present those college IDs are nonresidents. They say requiring government IDs for students to vote would help ensure the integrity of the state’s election system.

“Every argument you hear against this is just ludicrous,” state Rep. Ross Berry, a Weare Republican and chair of the House Election Law Committee, said in remarks on the House floor ahead of the bill’s passage. “You need a government ID to collect social security, to get on welfare. You need an ID to get on a plane. It’s a part of life.”

Democrats blasted the proposal as election interference and warned that the legislation, if approved, would likely be challenged in court.

“The reality behind this bill is it’s a blatant attempt to unconstitutionally prohibit students, who are already registered and qualified voters in New Hampshire, from exercising their undeniable constitutional right to vote,” state Rep. James Newsom, a Contoocook Democrat, said in opposition to the bill.

New Hampshire has wrangled for years over proposals to restrict student voting and tighten voter ID requirements while blocking attempts by Democrats to expand early voting and mail balloting.

State law allows students who are temporarily living in the Granite State to claim residence and vote. New Hampshire has more college students per capita than any other state.

Students are a sizable chunk of the electorate that helped tip the state’s vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, Joe Biden in the 2020 election, and Kamala Harris in 2024.

Election integrity has been an issue in New Hampshire since the 2016 presidential election, when then-Republican candidate Donald Trump claimed that busloads of Massachusetts Democrats were brought into the state to vote against him. Trump reiterated the allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 elections, which he ultimately lost.

In 2024, then-Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, signed a bill that requires identification to cast a ballot, without exceptions, and documented proof of U.S. citizenship for first-time New Hampshire voters to register to vote.

NEW HAMPSHIRE SENATE REPUBLICANS UNVEIL LEGISLATIVE AGENDA

Despite the concerns about fraud, a 2022 report by the state’s Special Committee on Voter Confidence concluded that New Hampshire’s election system “works as is intended” and “deserves the support and confidence” of the state’s voters. Instances of voter fraud are “rare and isolated,” and promptly investigated by state and local election officials, according to the report.

The bill on student ID requirements now heads to the GOP-controlled state Senate, which must approve it before sending it to Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s desk for consideration.