Live Free or Die: New Hampshire Doesn’t Live Up To Its Motto
Since when did living free mean suppressing the right to vote?
New Hampshire, the Live free or Die state, is a case study in how unnecessary burdens on voting can harm young voters: just 7% of 18-year-olds are registered to vote in the state as of March 31.
I am sorry to report that as of spring 2026, New Hampshire has the lowest registration rate for 18-year-olds of the 32 states we are tracking. There is not a single county in the state where the rate was at 10% or more as of March.
By contrast, in Oregon, Michigan, and Colorado 70+% are registered. That’s 7 times as many, and it proves that states have the power to do a better job of consistently welcoming their newest voters.
New Hampshire, I do not believe that your teens are 7 times less engaged than their counterparts in those states. Living free must include better access to voting.
It’s not just those far-off states that are outpacing their New Hampshire peers: every state in New England surpasses New Hampshire by wide margins.
New Hampshire’s rate today is actually lower than it has been at the most comparable times we have tracked from other federal election years, as shown below:
It’s not just me saying that something is wrong. The federal courts have had to step in to enjoin state law as unconstitutional. See New Hampshire Youth Movement v. Scanlan (D.N.H., Case No. 24-cv-291-SE) (order dated May 28, 2026).
For years, New Hampshire has been one of the hardest states in which to register to vote. Exempt from the National Voter Registration Act (Motor Voter), the state has no online registration, no DMV registration, no mail-in registration. Instead, new registrants have been required to register to vote in person, at their local election office. And when they do, they have had to provide proof of both residency and citizenship. Does this sound easy for a busy high school senior to undertake? Here’s how New Hampshire compares to California, to illustrate the differences.
The burdens, while onerous, were ameliorated somewhat by the possibility new registrants had of signing an affidavit, attesting to their eligibility under penalty of perjury.
Then, in 2024, HB 1569 sought to change that by removing the possibility of signing an affidavit as to citizenship and requiring instead that new registrants provide documentary proof that they are citizens. Only a narrow list of documents would be deemed acceptable, such as, “the applicant’s birth certificate, passport, naturalization papers if the applicant is a naturalized citizen.” ¹
Like the SAVE Act bill proposed at the federal level, the ostensible purpose of the law is to prevent voter fraud. But the court explained that “the lawmaker who sponsored the bill and the governor who signed it into law both said that they did not believe voter fraud was an issue in the state.” And the injury to voters, including high school students, and the organizations seeking to assist them, was real.
While there is no randomized controlled trial demonstrating that HB 1569 is responsible for New Hampshire’s exceptionally low registration rate for 18-year-olds, the court’s recounting of evidence, findings of fact, and conclusions of law make clear that the burdens were both severe and unjustified and fell disproportionately on young voters.
In a 98-page opinion, the court concluded that the law places particular burdens on young people because “[t]hey are obviously far more likely to be new voters, and thus more likely to be required to produce DPOC to register than are older voters who may have registered before HB 1569 took effect. Further, young voters disproportionately relied on [the affidavit process] to prove citizenship before HB 1569 took effect.”
Open Democracy New Hampshire is a statewide nonpartisan organization with which The Civics Center works closely, and it is a plaintiff in the litigation. The Court found fewer high school students registered in 2025 than in 2023, despite the fact that Open Democracy had a full-time staff member dedicated to high school voter registration drives in 2025 that it did not have in 2023. Further, in Manchester High School Central in 2025, “[m]ore students were turned away . . . than actually registered to vote.”
The court also recounted evidence from college students who were unable to register because, although they have the relevant documentary proof of citizenship, they were unable to access it readily because their parents maintain possession of the documents for safekeeping.
I don’t know about you, but I didn’t bring my passport or birth certificate with me when I went to college. Both my mother and I would have found it a serious burden for her to have to go scrambling and ship them to me just so I could register to vote.
In the wake of the district court’s May 28, 2026, injunction, high school voter registration drives continued in the state through graduation. The State has appealed the ruling.
We hope to provide an update on the data and the appeal soon.
In the meantime, here’s what you can do:
If you’re from New Hampshire, check out New Hampshire resources from The Civics Center and Open Democracy New Hampshire to learn how to register and how to run a drive, and share the info with students and educators in your life.
Sign our petition to stop the federal SAVE Act. The US Senate has so far declined to pass this bill, but Senators need to hear ongoing opposition.
Regardless of where you are from, encourage the teens in your life to register to vote and to get trained to run a drive as part of high school voter registration weeks. The more students who understand the importance of the right to vote and how to organize their community, the higher turnout can be, and the more likely we will have free and fair elections for all in November.
¹ HB 1569 also specified as permissible “any other reasonable documentation which indicates the applicant is a United States citizen,” an undefined term that the court found election officials had no consistent understanding.