The US supreme court has cleared the way for New Hampshire to prohibit student IDs as a form of voter identification ahead of November’s midterm elections.

In a brief unsigned order, justices sided with a Republican National Committee (RNC)-backed appeal on the matter. They cited a longstanding rule that lower federal courts should not “alter election rules” too close to election day.

The challenge stemmed from a directive that New Hampshire state officials made earlier this year, which stated student IDs could not be used as a form of identification when voting at the polls, even as a backup under what is known as “safety valve” identification.

New Hampshire has required voters to present an ID to vote since 2012, but earlier this year the state’s Republican governor, Kelly Ayotte, signed a law tightening the rules by removing student IDs from the list of standard forms of voter ID.