CONCORD, N.H. (AP) 鈥� A federal judge has said that New Hampshire must make voter registration easier by allowing applicants to attest to their U.S. citizenship if they don鈥檛 have the documents to prove it.
The case was seen as the first major legal test of an election reform that has been and has gained favor among many Republicans, though U.S. District Court Judge Samantha Elliot said she was not deciding whether requiring proof of citizenship itself is constitutional. Her ruling late Thursday night on a narrower question of New Hampshire law was significant, however, because it underscored the potential perils of implementing strict requirements for voters to document their U.S. citizenship so they can cast a ballot.
Elliot found that changes in 2024 to the state voter registration law unconstitutionally removed one method of proof — namely, a voter鈥檚 sworn affidavit attesting to citizenship.
鈥淭he evidence shows that this is the only method of proof available to a significant number of New Hampshire voters,鈥� she wrote.
The changes last year, after former Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, signed the bill two years ago. The attorney general鈥檚 office said it plans to appeal the judge鈥檚 ruling, calling the citizenship requirements a 鈥渃ommon-sense approach to voter registration and election administration designed to protect the integrity of our elections.鈥�
The ruling was a win for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire and other plaintiffs who argued that the changes that last year were burdensome and unnecessary.
鈥淣ew Hampshire鈥檚 elections have always been safe, secure, and accurate 鈥� and this law could have unconstitutionally and needlessly prevented thousands of eligible voters from casting a ballot,鈥� said Henry Klementowicz, deputy legal director of the ACLU of New Hampshire.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the Coalition for Open Democracy, the League of Women Voters of New Hampshire, the Forward Foundation and five voters, called the state鈥檚 voter registration law one of the most restrictive in the nation. During town elections last fall, some voters gathering passports, birth certificates or other proof of citizenship.
New Hampshire is with a proof-of-citizenship law for voters. Arizona, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming have similar laws already in effect, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. this year requiring documentary proof of citizenship to vote, but it won鈥檛 take effect until next year.
A , which required proof of citizenship for state and federal elections, was found in 2018 to violate both the U.S. Constitution and the National Voter Registration Act after it prevented more than 31,000 citizens from registering to vote.
Arizona established a two-tiered system after the that the state could not require citizenship documentation for federal elections. In August 2024, the court allowed some parts of the state鈥檚 proof-of-citizenship law to be enforced as the legal fight continued in lower courts.
The ruling comes as Trump is trying to push the SAVE America Act, through Congress. Voting rights advocates say such a federal requirement millions of people. A 2025 University of Maryland study estimated that who are eligible to vote do not have or have easy access to documents to prove their citizenship, including nearly 10% of Democrats, 7% of Republicans and 14% of people unaffiliated with either major party.
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