A new voter ID law is facing its first legal challenge.
Gov. Chris Sununu signed the law last week. It requires all people registering to vote to show a passport, birth certificate or naturalization papers at the polls. Set to take effect after the November general elections, it would replace an existing system that allows people to swear they are qualified to vote by signing an affidavit, if they lack the required documents.
A new lawsuit from the New Hampshire Youth Movement, filed in federal court on Tuesday, alleges that the law violates the U.S. Constitution by making it “substantially harder—and in some cases impossible—for many New Hampshire citizens to register and vote.” They’re asking the court to permanently block the law from taking effect.
In addition to requiring all first-time voters to prove their citizenship with documentation in hand, the law also eliminates all exceptions for people who show up to vote without an identification.
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The lawsuit alleges the policies will disproportionately impact younger voters and college students, “who are less likely to have ready access to the limited set of documents with which they must now prove their citizenship.” It also cites the state’s own data showing prosecutions for voter fraud, including non-citizens participating in elections, are exceedingly rare.
According to the lawsuit, more than 700 voters registered at their polling locations in 2022 using an affidavit to prove their citizenship in lieu of showing documentation, while hundreds more used affidavits to attest to their residency or identity.
The plaintiffs allege that since 2015, there has only been one prosecution for a non-citizen voting in New Hampshire.
Sununu’s office has not yet responded to a request for comment.
The lawsuit names New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan as the defendant. His office has also not yet responded to a request for comment.
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In June, Scanlan told lawmakers that he didn’t think the proposal was “unreasonable.”
“I don’t think that it is voter suppression or too much to ask voters to be able to give that confidence that they’re qualified to vote,” Scanlan said during a legislative hearing.
The bill was sponsored by Rep. Bob Lynn, a Republican from Windham who previously served as chief justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court. He and other supporters said the new rules will boost confidence in New Hampshire elections and are a reasonable expansion of voting laws.
WILTON, N.H. (WHDH) – A woman died in a Wilton, New Hampshire, house fire Wednesday morning, according to the New Hampshire State Fire Marshal’s Office.
At 9:08 a.m., Wilton firefighters responded to Burns Hill Road after a caller said their home was filling up with smoke. When they arrived, a single-family home was on fire and they found out two people were still inside on the second floor.
A man and a woman were both taken out of the house by firefighters and taken to Elliott Hospital. The woman was pronounced dead and the man is in serious condition.
Officials have not released the name of the victim at this time.
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At this time, investigators are looking into the cause of the fire and are trying to determine if a power outage in the area played a factor. The fire is not currently considered suspicious.
(Copyright (c) 2025 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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Diane Durgin, 67, is accused of shooting at a Black man who inadvertently drove to her property after a prearranged truck part sale, prosecutors said.
A New Hampshire woman is accused of violating the state’s Civil Rights Act four times after she allegedly shot at a man because he was Black, prosecutors said.
Diane Durgin, 67, of Weare, N.H. could face up to a $5,000 fine for each violation she is found to have committed, the office of New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said in a press release Tuesday.
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Durgin is also charged with criminal threatening against a person with a deadly weapon and attempted first degree assault with a deadly weapon, Michael Garrity, a media representative for the New Hampshire Attorney General, said in an emailed statement to Boston.com.
Durgin had a final pre-trial conference last week, Garrity said.
In a civil complaint filed Tuesday, Durgin is accused of threatening physical force against the victim, the AG said. Prosecutors asked the court to issue a preliminary injunction barring Durgin from repeating her alleged behavior and from contacting the victim and his family.
During the morning hours of Oct. 20, 2024, the victim claims, he “mistakenly” drove to Durgin’s home after a prearranged purchase of a truck part with a seller online, prosecutors wrote as part of their request for an injunction.
When the man — whom prosecutors identified in court documents as X.G. — arrived, Durgin allegedly stepped out of her home and approached his car with a gun “holstered by her waist,” prosecutors wrote.
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Upon noticing that X.G. was Black, Durgin allegedly “removed her gun and pointed it at X.G.,” prosecutors said in the injunction request.
While X.G. explained that he was lost, Durgin called the victim a “Black mother[expletive],” and threatened to “kill him,” prosecutors allege.
As the victim attempted to drive away, Durgin allegedly took her gun and fired two shots at the fleeing man’s car, missing both times, the AG’s office said.
While on the phone with a dispatcher, Durgin allegedly said she shot the man’s car because the victim is Black, the AG said.
“The guy is Black. And he, he…he says he’s meeting someone here and I think he’s coming here to steal,” Durgin allegedly said.
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Police located X.G. and brought him to the Weare Police Department, stopping along the way at the correct seller’s home to complete the truck part purchase, prosecutors wrote in court documents.
To prove a violation of the New Hampshire Civil Rights Act, the AG must show that Durgin “interfered or attempted to interfere with the rights of the victim to engage in lawful activities by threatening to engage in or actually engage in physical force or violence, when such actual or threatening conduct was motivated by race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, or disability,” prosecutors said.
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