Voters cast their ballots at the Dryades YMCA polling location in New Orleans, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Sophia Germer\/The Times-Picayune\/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)<\/small><\/p>\n
2026-05-29T20:17:28Z<\/p>\n
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) \u2014 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\u2019t have the documents to prove it.<\/p>\n
The case was seen as the first major legal test of an election reform that has been pushed nationally by President Donald Trump<\/a><\/span> 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.<\/p>\n Elliot found that changes in 2024 to the state voter registration law unconstitutionally removed one method of proof — namely, a voter\u2019s sworn affidavit attesting to citizenship.<\/p>\n \u201cThe evidence shows that this is the only method of proof available to a significant number of New Hampshire voters,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n The changes took effect<\/a><\/span> last year, after former Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican, signed the bill two years ago. The attorney general\u2019s office said it plans to appeal the judge\u2019s ruling, calling the citizenship requirements a \u201ccommon-sense approach to voter registration and election administration designed to protect the integrity of our elections.\u201d<\/p>\n The ruling was a win for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire and other plaintiffs who argued that the changes that took effect<\/a><\/span> last year were burdensome and unnecessary. <\/p>\n