Gov. Kelly Ayotte has signed a law requiring a government-issued identification in order to vote in New Hampshire, eliminating the option to use high school or college IDs at the polls.
The law, enacted via House Bill 323, takes effect in June and will be in place for the Sept. 8 state primaries and Nov. 3 general election.
The new law limits qualifying identifications to a driver’s license from any state, a non-driver identification card from any state, a U.S. armed services ID card, or a U.S. passport or passport card. It strips out the ability to use college, university, and high school identification cards.
Republican proponents hailed the law, arguing it closes off the possibility of voter fraud from people using fake college identification.
But Democrats called it an attack on student voting rights, noting that some high school seniors and college students who lack driver’s licenses may struggle to obtain state-issued identification by September or November.
New Hampshire has required voter ID to vote since 2012, after the Republican-led Legislature overrode a veto issued by Democratic Gov. John Lynch. That requirement recently became stricter; in 2024, lawmakers removed the ability for voters without an ID to cast a ballot by signing an affidavit attesting to their identity under penalty of perjury. House Bill 1569, which eliminated affidavits and required a physical ID with no exceptions, is currently facing a lawsuit in federal court.
Ayotte signed the bill Friday, her office said. She did not issue a statement.
In a fundraising email Monday celebrating the bill’s passage, Rep. Ross Berry, a Weare Republican and one of the co-sponsors of the bill, said the law would make elections more secure.
“Student IDs have no address verification,” Berry wrote. “No citizenship check. No security features. They were the weakest link in our election integrity framework, and now that loophole is closed.”
Opponents of HB 323 have argued that college verification processes at the University of New Hampshire are robust. And they say removing the method could be a major voting hurdle to students who are otherwise eligible to vote.
Lisa Kovack, the director of the New Hampshire Campaign for Voting Rights, called the law “a quiet but consequential step backward for democracy.” She said there are already other checks on student voters’ citizenship.
“Student IDs are one piece of identification used to verify voters who are already registered — voters who, like all New Hampshire residents, must present additional proof of address and citizenship documentation to register in the first place,” Kovack said in a statement.
“Students have a stake in New Hampshire’s future: its housing costs, its environment, its economy,” she added. “Students should be able to exercise their constitutional right to vote without additional obstacles.”