Judge blocks Indiana law banning student IDs for voting

(INDIANA CAPITAL CHRONICLE) — A federal judge issued an order Tuesday blocking an Indiana law that banned the use of college-issued student identification cards for voting.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Young granted the preliminary injunction sought by groups that filed a lawsuit challenging the student ID ban soon after it was approved by the Legislature last year.

• Read the injunction

Young ruled that the challengers would likely succeed in their arguments that the law “imposes unconstitutional burdens on students and young voters in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments.”

Students had been allowed to use identification cards issued by public universities at polling places to meet Indiana’s voter ID law under requirements that they included the voter’s name, photo and a valid expiration date.

Republican lawmakers, however, pushed through legislation in 2025 removing the college-issued IDs from the list of acceptable identification, arguing that they weren’t subject to the same “rigor” as driver’s licenses.

Young found that it was inconsistent for t...