Supreme Court says New Hampshire can limit use of student IDs for voting

Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed New Hampshire officials to limit when voters may use a student ID to receive a ballot, agreeing that a lower court ruling that blocked enforcement of the policy was too close to Election Day.

The unsigned order was a win for New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan, a Republican, and the Republican National Committee, which had supported Scanlan in the fight.

The court did not provide a vote count, though it did provide a brief explanation, invoking the “Purcell principle” that warns against last-minute decisions from courts that change election rules.

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, a liberal, wrote a brief dissent questioning the application of the Purcell doctrine.

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New Hampshire voters will fill an open Senate seat in November to replace the retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. A recent CNN poll found that Democrats enjoy a 31 percentage point advantage over Republicans among younger adults.

Lower federal courts allowed the state to enforce the central prohibition of a law enacted by the state legislature this spring. Under that law, student IDs on their own may no longer be used to verify a voter’s identity. But state law also includes a “safety valve” that allows voters to attempt to prove their identity through other means and the fight at the Supreme Court was about whether, in those circumstances, student IDs could be used as one factor, along with other evidence, to help officials identify people requesting a ballot.

When New Hampshire officials interpreted the new state law as shutting off the ability to use student IDs even in those circumstances, a voting rights group called Coalition for Open Democracy sued. A federal district court blocked enforcement of that interpretation on October 2.

New Hampshire filed an emergency appeal at the Supreme Court arguing that the Purcell opinion meant should decide the case in its favor. The RNC had warned that the lower court’s order “threatens to disrupt identity verification in New Hampshire’s looming elections.”

The Supreme Court has been called on to address several high-profile election disputes heading into next month’s midterms, most notably a decision in mid-September rejecting President Donald Trump’s proposal to change how mail ballots are sent to voters across the country.

This story is breaking and will be updated.

乔纳森·恩斯特/路透社

最高法院周四允许新罕布什尔州官员限制选民何时可以使用学生证领取选票，并同意下级法院阻止执行该政策的裁决距离选举日太近。

这份未经签署的命令对新罕布什尔州州务卿、共和党人戴维·斯坎伦和共和党全国委员会来说是一次胜利，共和党全国委员会一直在这场斗争中支持斯坎伦。

法院没有提供计票结果，但给出了一个简短的解释，援引了“珀塞尔原则”，该原则警告法院不要在最后一刻做出改变选举规则的决定。

自由派大法官凯坦吉·布朗·杰克逊撰写了一份简短的异议意见，质疑珀塞尔原则的适用。

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特朗普告诉拉马斯瓦米不要撤下那则引发争议的广告，广告中出现了他对手疏远的母亲。

新罕布什尔州选民将于11月投票选出一位参议员，以接替即将退休的民主党参议员珍妮·沙欣。CNN最近的一项民调显示，在年轻选民中，民主党人比共和党人领先31个百分点。

下级联邦法院允许该州执行州议会今年春季通过的一项法律的核心禁令。根据该法律，学生证不得单独用于核实选民身份。但州法律也包含一项“安全阀”条款，允许选民尝试通过其他方式证明自己的身份。最高法院的争议焦点在于，在这种情况下，学生证是否可以与其他证据一起作为一项因素，帮助官员识别申请投票的人员。

新罕布什尔州官员将新州法律解读为即使在特定情况下也禁止使用学生证，此举引发了名为“开放民主联盟”的投票权组织提起诉讼。10月2日，联邦地区法院阻止了该解读的执行。

新罕布什尔州向最高法院提起紧急上诉，认为珀塞尔案的判决应有利于该州。共和党全国委员会曾警告说，下级法院的命令“有可能扰乱新罕布什尔州即将举行的选举中的身份验证工作”。

在下个月的中期选举前夕，最高法院被要求处理几起备受瞩目的选举争议，其中最引人注目的是9月中旬的一项裁决，该裁决驳回了唐纳德·特朗普总统关于改变向全国选民邮寄选票方式的提议。

这是突发新闻，我们将持续更新。