Federal judge blocks Indiana ban on student ID for voting

A federal judge granted a preliminary injunction against Indiana's SB 10, ruling the ban on student IDs for voting likely burdens young voters' rights.

---

A federal judge this week blocked Indiana from enforcing a law that bars college-issued student identification cards from being used for voting, ruling that the measure likely violates the constitutional rights of students and young voters.
U.S. District Judge Richard Young granted a preliminary injunction on Tuesday against Senate Bill 10, a 2025 law that removed student IDs from Indiana’s list of acceptable voter identification even though such cards had been accepted for nearly two decades if they included a voter’s name, photograph, expiration date and were issued by the state or federal government.
"Plaintiffs have shown that they are likely to succeed on their claim that SB 10 imposes unconstitutional burdens on students and young voters in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments," Young, appointed by former President Bill Clinton, wrote in a 34-page order. "They have also established irreparable harm and satisfied the remaining requirements for a preliminary injunction."
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita’s office said Wednesday it intends to appeal, arguing that the state’s voter ID law should not be weakened by court-ordered exceptions.
GOP GOVERNORS, AGS BACK TRUMP SAVE ACT PUSH, WARN SYSTEM GIVES ‘UNDUE INFLUENCE’ TO STATES WITH ILLEGAL ALIENS
"Indiana’s voter ID law is critical to election security and integrity," the office told the Indiana Capital Chronicle in a statement. "Courts shouldn’t be watering the law down by doling out special exemptions to some students and faculty. We’ll keep fighting to uphold commonsense election rules."
Notably, out of state college students might be registered in another state, perhaps a nexus for the state's requiring a state or federal-issued ID.
Still, Young concluded that rejecting student IDs for voters "is probably unconstitutional."
FLORIDA, MISSISSIPPI JOIN WAVE OF STATES TIGHTENING VOTER CITIZENSHIP RULES
"While it's true that an injunction would override a democratically adopted law, Indiana has no valid interest in enforcing 'a statute that is probably unconstitutional,'" Young wrote.
The ruling is a setback for Republican state lawmakers who approved SB 10 last year after arguing that student IDs were not issued with the same rigor as Indiana driver’s licenses and state identification cards. Young found the state’s position undercut by the fact that Indiana still allows other non-driver forms of identification — including military, Veterans Administration and tribal IDs — many of which, he wrote, are "less uniform than student IDs."
"By eliminating student IDs as an acceptable form of identification, Defendants selectively excluded a form of identification that otherwise complies with the neutral criteria established by Indiana’s voter ID law and that has been accepted as a form of voter identification for nearly two decades," Young wrote.
CONSERVATIVE GROUP LAUNCHES $5M AD BLITZ PRESSURING SENATE ON VOTER ID AS GOP EYES SAVE AMERICA ACT PUSH
The judge said he did not need to decide, at this stage, a separate claim that the law intentionally discriminates on the basis of age in violation of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment.
The lawsuit was filed in May 2025 by Count US IN, Women4Change Indiana and Indiana University student Josh Montagne, who had used his IU-issued student ID to vote three times but said he lacked another form of qualifying identification after the law took effect.
Young’s order described student IDs as a long-standing, widely used tool for voting on Indiana campuses. The opinion cited evidence that nearly 200,000 students attend Indiana public universities whose IDs previously qualified under the voter ID law, and noted a Monroe County election supervisor’s estimate that about two-thirds of voters at an on-campus Indiana University polling place used student IDs in the 2024 general election.
DAVID MARCUS: SENATE GOP SHOULD TAKE FETTERMAN'S DEAL ON VOTER ID
The judge estimated that the actual number of students affected by the ban was likely about 40,000, though he noted the plaintiffs’ expert had produced higher estimates. He said the record showed the law falls hardest on college students and younger voters because they are less likely than the general electorate to possess Indiana driver’s licenses or state IDs and often face added hurdles in getting alternative documentation.
Young rejected the state’s argument that the public interest in election integrity justified the change, writing that Indiana had produced no evidence that student IDs had been used in voter fraud or that they had caused meaningful problems for election administration.
TRUMP-BACKED VOTER ID BILL FACES GOP RESISTANCE AS TILLIS VOWS TO STOP IT
"To eliminate the ID that students and young voters are far more likely to rely on, Defendants must better document the unique problems student IDs raise," Young wrote. "On this record, SB 10 looks more like a solution in search of a problem."
The court also concluded that blocking the law weeks before Indiana’s May 4 primary would not create the kind of disruption federal courts are warned to avoid close to an election. Young said the injunction would mainly restore a practice Indiana had followed for years and would require only minor updates to election materials and training.
Because the case is at the preliminary injunction stage, the ruling does not permanently strike down the law. But it means student IDs that otherwise satisfy Indiana’s voter ID requirements can be used in the upcoming elections while the lawsuit moves forward.