Federal judge blocks Indiana ban on student IDs as voter identification

A federal judge this week blocked Indiana from imposing a regulation that bars college-issued student identification playing cards from getting used for voting, ruling that the measure probably violates the constitutional rights of scholars and younger voters.

US District Judge Richard Young granted a preliminary injunction on Tuesday towards Senate Bill 10a 2025 regulation that eliminated student IDs from Indiana’s listing of acceptable voter identification though such playing cards had been accepted for almost twenty years in the event that they included a voter’s identify, {photograph}, expiration date and had been issued by the state or federal authorities.

“Plaintiffs have shown that they are likely to succeed on their claim that SB 10 imposes unconstitutional burdens on students and young voters in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments“Young, appointed by former President Bill Clinton, wrote in a 34-page order. “They have also established irreparable harm and satisfied the remaining requirements for a preliminary injunction.”

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita’s workplace stated Wednesday it intends to attraction, arguing that the state’s voter ID regulation shouldn’t be weakened by court-ordered exceptions.

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“Indiana’s voter ID law is critical to election security and integrity,” the workplace told the Indiana Capital Chronicle in an announcement. “Courts shouldn’t be watering the law down by doling out special exemptions to some students and faculty. We’ll keep fighting to uphold commonsense election rules.”

Notably, out of state school college students may be registered in one other state, maybe a nexus for the state’s requiring a state or federal-issued ID.

Still, Young concluded that rejecting student IDs for voters “is probably unconstitutional.”

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“While it’s true that an injunction would override a democratically adopted law, Indiana has no valid interest in enforcing ‘a statute that is probably unconstitutional,'” Young wrote.

The ruling is a setback for Republican state lawmakers who accepted SB 10 final 12 months after arguing that student IDs weren’t issued with the identical rigor as Indiana driver’s licenses and state identification playing cards. Young discovered the state’s place undercut by the truth that Indiana nonetheless permits different non-driver types of identification — together with army, Veterans Administration and tribal IDs — a lot of which, he wrote, are “less uniform than student IDs.”

“By eliminating student IDs as an acceptable form of identification, Defendants selectively excluded a form of identification that otherwise complies with the neutral criteria established by Indiana’s voter ID law and that has been accepted as a form of voter identification for nearly two decades,” Young wrote.

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The judge stated he didn’t must determine, at this stage, a separate declare that the regulation deliberately discriminates on the idea of age in violation of the Twenty-Sixth Amendment.

The lawsuit was filed in May 2025 by Count US IN, Women4Change Indiana and Indiana University student Josh Montagne, who had used his IU-issued student ID to vote 3 times however stated he lacked one other type of qualifying identification after the regulation took impact.

Young’s order described student IDs as a long-standing, broadly used device for voting on Indiana campuses. The opinion cited proof that just about 200,000 college students attend Indiana public universities whose IDs beforehand certified beneath the voter ID regulation, and famous a Monroe County election supervisor’s estimate that about two-thirds of voters at an on-campus Indiana University polling place used student IDs within the 2024 common election.

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Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, spoke throughout a information convention concerning the SAVE America Act on the US Capitol on March 19, 2026, in Washington, DC (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The judge estimated that the present variety of college students affected by the ban was probably about 40,000, though he famous the plaintiffs’ skilled had produced greater estimates. He stated the file confirmed the regulation falls more durable on school college students and youthful voters as a result of they’re much less probably than the final citizens to own Indiana driver’s licenses or state IDs and infrequently face added hurdles in getting various documentation.

Young rejected the state’s argument that the public interest in election integrity justified the change, writing that Indiana had produced no proof that student IDs had been utilized in voter fraud or that they’d brought on important issues for election administration.

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“To eliminate the ID that students and young voters are far more likely to rely on, Defendants must better document the unique problems student IDs raise,” Young wrote. “On this record, SB 10 looks more like a solution in search of a problem.”

The courtroom additionally concluded that blocking the regulation weeks earlier than Indiana’s May 4 major wouldn’t create the form of disruption federal courts are warned to keep away from closing to an election. Young stated the injunction would primarily restore a follow Indiana had adopted for years and would require solely minor updates to election supplies and coaching.

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Because the case is on the preliminary injunction stage, the ruling doesn’t completely strike down the regulation. But it means student IDs that in any other case fulfill Indiana’s voter ID necessities can be utilized within the upcoming elections whereas the lawsuit strikes ahead.