(The Center Square) — A federal judge has overturned a New Hampshire law that required unregistered voters to provide proof of citizenship to cast ballots in state elections.
The ruling late Thursday by U.S. District Court judge Samantha Elliott sided with the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups who sued to block the law, saying the requirement for new voters to provide a birth certificate or valid U.S. passport to cast a ballot on election day was unconstitutional.
“New Hampshire’s interest in election integrity cannot justify the burden on New Hampshire voters based on the evidence in this case,” Elliot wrote in the 98-page ruling.
Elliot said the state Attorney General’s office, which defended the law during a recent trial, didn’t provide “conclusive proof” that non-citizens were regularly voting in New Hampshire elections. She pointed to testimony during the trial that only one person in 26 years has been charged with voter fraud, while a few people with permanent resident cards were allowed to vote due to confusion by local clerks.
“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 wrote.
The decision, which goes into effect immediately, means New Hampshire voters who arrive at the polls in this fall’s midterm elections without a birth certificate or passport will be allowed to use a “legally-binding” affidavit to register to vote and cast a ballot.
“New Hampshire’s elections have always been safe, secure, and accurate – and this law could have unconstitutionally and needlessly prevented thousands of eligible voters from casting a ballot,” Henry Klementowicz, deputy legal director of the ACLU of New Hampshire, said in a statement. “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.”
The 2024 law, signed by then-Gov. Chris Sununu, requires people who are registering to vote in New Hampshire for the first time on Election Day to provide proof of identification within seven days of casting a ballot.
New Hampshire is one of a handful of states that don’t use provisional ballots, which are required under federal law.
The state received a waiver from the federal requirement in the 1990s in exchange for offering same-day voter registration. Under the previous law, voters can sign an affidavit attesting their identity if they are missing required documents.
Republicans who backed the creation of the new affidavit ballots say the intent is to prevent voter fraud and instill more confidence in the state’s election system.
In 2021, New Hampshire’s Supreme Court struck down a four-year old law requiring voters to show additional proof of identity if they register shortly before an election.
In the ruling, the justices wrote that they agreed with the lower court rulings that the law “imposes unreasonable burdens on the right to vote” and that lawyers for the state failed to demonstrate that the law was related to an “important governmental objective.”
The law required voters to show additional proof of identification if they registered within 30 days of a federal, state or local election.
Democrats passed a law repealing the changes in 2019, when they had control of the Legislature, but Sununu vetoed it.