How will this court ruling affect NH voting rules?
If you are already registered to vote in New Hampshire, the recent court ruling shouldn’t impact you. You still need to bring an ID to vote, but nothing else is changing.
- For all first-time voters in the state, the affidavit is coming back. So if you don’t have a birth certificate or U.S. passport in hand when you register, or maybe you changed your name and now those records don’t match your current name, new registrants can again sign a form under penalty of law swearing you are a U.S. citizen.
- New voters also need to prove they live in the place where they are seeking to vote. For that, the affidavit is not coming back. You’ll need to bring a photo ID with your address, or a utility bill, lease or another official document showing you live in the place where you want to vote.
A federal judge on Thursday declared that New Hampshire’s 2024 law requiring first-time voters in the state to show proof of U.S. citizenship when they register is unconstitutional. The ruling is a major blow to a Republican-backed policy considered one of the strictest voter registration laws in the country.
“New Hampshire’s interest in election integrity cannot justify the burden on New Hampshire voters based on the evidence in this case,” said Judge Samantha Elliott in a 98-page ruling.
The decision goes into effect immediately, clearing the way for new voters who arrive at the polls without a birth certificate or U.S. passport to resume using a legally-binding affidavit to confirm their citizenship qualifications to vote.
The ruling follows a nine-day trial earlier this year, in which backers of the law were unable to provide conclusive proof that non-citizens were regularly participating in New Hampshire elections. Just one person in the past 26 years has been prosecuted for knowingly voting as a non-U.S. citizen, according to court testimony. A handful of other permanent residents with green cards were allowed to vote due to confusion by election officials.
“Such miniscule numbers strongly undercut any legitimate concern about election integrity vis-à-vis noncitizen voting and, consequently, the state’s interest in addressing it,” Elliott said in her ruling.
The legal challenge to House Bill 1569, which was signed into law by former Gov. Chris Sununu in 2024, came from a range of groups, including the League of Women Voters and New Hampshire Youth Movement, as well as the ACLU of New Hampshire.
“Making it harder to vote is a clear attack on one of our most fundamental of rights, and this law is consigned to the dustbin of history where it belongs," said Henry Klementowicz, an attorney with the ACLU.
The state Department of Justice said Friday that it will appeal the ruling.
In her ruling, Elliott said that the state’s removal of the "Qualified Voter Affidavit" form in 2024, which previously allowed new registrants to swear they were both U.S. citizens and residents of the community in which they were seeking to vote, made it harder to vote.
“A sworn affidavit capable of exposing an affiant to criminal prosecution is a method of proving citizenship and not an exception to that requirement,” she said. “Moreover, the evidence shows that it is the only method of proof available to a significant number of New Hampshire voters.”
During the trial, expert witnesses testified that nearly 40% of people don’t have a U.S. passport. Other witnesses said that married women who change their last name could also be disproportionately impacted, if their new name doesn't match the one on their birth certificate.
Last year, state Republicans passed a law that made it easier for local election officials to look up a voter's vital records — including place of birth — if they arrived at the polling place without certain documents. But the plaintiffs said the state would be understaffed on Election Day to handle a wave of requests for birth certificates and drivers licenses.
New Hampshire is one of the few states in the nation that allows people to register to vote at the polls. On Election Day in 2024, more than 10,000 first-time voters used an affidavit to register to vote, according to data presented during the trial.
Critics of the system warn that the state has little opportunity to fully investigate such a large number of voters, who could lie about their citizenship or residency on the form.
“This isn't the first time a progressive judge has ignored the law and precedent to push a political agenda," said Rep. Ross Berry, a Republican from Weare who chairs the House's Election Law committee. "It's a pattern."
But top state officials — including Sununu and Rep. Bob Lynn, who authored the legislation — have stressed that the state’s election system is secure and that there is no widespread fraud. Elliott, in her ruling, noted that even the state’s top election official, New Hampshire Sec. of State David Scanlan, “testified that noncitizen voting is essentially non-existent in New Hampshire.”
(Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional comments from the parties in the case, as well as lawmakers.)
