A federal judge has ruled that New Hampshire must restore a voter registration option allowing residents to attest to their U.S. citizenship through a sworn affidavit when they lack documentary proof, marking the first major legal test of proof-of-citizenship requirements that have gained traction among Republicans nationwide.
U.S. District Court Judge Samantha Elliot issued her ruling late Thursday, finding that changes made in 2024 to New Hampshire's voter registration law unconstitutionally removed the affidavit method as a form of citizenship verification. The modifications took effect last year after former Republican Gov. Chris Sununu signed the bill two years earlier.
What the Right Is Saying
New Hampshire's Republican attorney general's office announced plans to appeal the ruling, calling citizenship verification requirements a common-sense approach to election administration. The state argues that documentary proof of citizenship helps protect electoral integrity.
Secretary of State David Scanlan said his office would reimplement voter affidavits for citizenship attestations but emphasized the ruling does not affect other 2024 changes to registration law, including requirements to provide documentary proof of identity, age, and address when registering. Voters will continue to need to show identification on Election Day.
The case was closely watched as the first major court test of proof-of-citizenship rules that President Donald Trump has championed nationally through the SAVE America Act, a bill currently moving through Congress. Republican supporters say such requirements are reasonable measures to ensure only eligible citizens participate in elections.
What the Left Is Saying
Democratic voting rights advocates and progressive organizations applauded the ruling as a victory for ballot access. Henry Klementowicz, deputy legal director of the ACLU of New Hampshire, which was among the plaintiffs in the case, said the decision protects eligible voters from unnecessary barriers.
"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," Klementowicz said.
The League of Women Voters of New Hampshire, another plaintiff in the case brought on behalf of the Coalition for Open Democracy, argued that strict documentation requirements create disparate burdens for low-income residents, elderly voters, and those who have moved frequently. During town elections last fall, some voters reported difficulty obtaining passports, birth certificates, or other proof documents to complete registration.
What the Numbers Show
Judge Elliot cited expert testimony finding 47 instances of wrongful voting out of roughly 8.3 million votes cast in New Hampshire between 1998 and 2024. During that same period, she wrote, only eight noncitizens may have cast ballots.
A 2025 University of Maryland study estimated that 21.3 million eligible American voters do not have or lack easy access to documents proving their citizenship, including nearly 10% of Democrats, 7% of Republicans, and 14% of those unaffiliated with either major party.
Four states — Arizona, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming — already have proof-of-citizenship laws in effect, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Florida passed similar legislation this year that takes effect next year. A Kansas law requiring documentary proof was struck down in 2018 after preventing more than 31,000 citizens from registering.
The Bottom Line
The ruling returns New Hampshire's voter registration system to include affidavit attestation while legal challenges continue nationally. It does not resolve whether proof-of-citizenship requirements themselves are constitutional — a question Elliot said she was not deciding.
What happens next: The attorney general's office is expected to appeal to the First Circuit Court of Appeals, meaning the case could take months or years to fully resolve. Meanwhile, Congress continues debating the SAVE America Act, which voting rights groups warn could disenfranchise millions nationwide if enacted.