Politics

A federal judge in Concord heard arguments Monday morning in a lawsuit alleging that the state has unconstitutionally thrown out hundreds of absentee ballots because the voters’ signatures did not appear to sufficiently match the handwriting used on other election paperwork.  

Governor Sununu signed a controversial voter residency bill into law Friday. Before that, dozens of protestors visited his office to ask him to veto the measure.

House Bill 1264 adds more restrictions to voting requirements and cleared the legislature earlier this year.

Opponents say the measure's stricter residency provisions -- like having a driver's license or car registration -- would make it more difficult for college students to vote.

Governor Chris Sununu has signed a bill that eliminates the distinction between "residency" and "domicile" for voting purposes. The move comes a day after the state Supreme Sourt issued a split opinion finding the bill constitutional.

The governor said he sought the court's opinion on the bill to "put the issue to rest once and for all." 

Allegations that New Hampshire Republican state Senator Andy Sanborn made inappropriate comments at the State House are following him on the campaign trail for Congress.

Sanborn is among a handful of Republicans running to replace retiring Democratic Rep. Carol Shea-Porter in the 1st Congressional District. 

For the first time ever, the New Hampshire Attorney General's office is auditing all state-level fundraising reports to make sure they're filed on time and include all the right information. And in its initial review, the office found “deficiencies” in 73 of the 142 filings that were submitted for the June 20 reporting deadline.

This week’s Supreme Court ruling limiting the ability of public sector unions to collect "agency fees" from non-members has landed along predictably partisan lines in New Hampshire. 

Democrat Molly Kelly says the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy should be a wake up call for Democrats.

Kelly says the threat to abortion rights and gay rights are reasons to back her over Governor Chris Sununu.

Molly Kelly still has a primary to win, but as she campaigned outside the superior court in Manchester, she was using rhetoric usually reserved for a the home stretch of a general election.

Standing before supporters holding signed with slogans like "Trust Women" and "Save Roe," Kelly said she always had, and always would, stand with women.

Governor Chris Sununu will call lawmakers back to Concord to fight any effort by other states to force New Hampshire businesses to collect sales taxes on customers who buy goods across state lines. 

One of Senator Maggie Hassan's interns has become a flashpoint in the national discussion this week over civility in politics, and both of New Hampshire's major political parties are pointing fingers. 

Governor Sununu signed a bill on Wednesday that would extend the subsidy for the Burgess BioPower biomass plant in Berlin by three years.

Under a 2011 agreement, Eversource pays Burgess at above-market prices. That's capped at 100 million dollars, but that could be reached sooner than anticipated.

So, with this new bill, the subsidy will continue for three years after hitting the cap. 

Those who opposed this bill argued that those above-market prices would be passed on to customers.

You’ll hear a lot this campaign season about who’s raising the most money — but the most telling parts of a candidate’s fundraising report aren't the details about how much a candidate raked in, but where that money came from.

That’s especially true in the race for New Hampshire governor, where we have a Republican incumbent who can draw on plenty of political and corporate connections, one Democratic challenger who is similarly well-connected to her party’s establishment and another Democrat who says he wants to get big money out of New Hampshire politics.

A group of seven Republican state representatives is challenging the nonprofit status of the conservative policy group Americans for Prosperity.

AFP announced weeks ago that it would be conducting a campaign to call out lawmakers who voted against right-to-work, one of the group’s policy priorities for years. The state reps challenging AFP's status were all targets of mailers criticizing them for voting against right-to-work legislation.

The state reps say they want to the state to weigh whether AFP should be required to register with the state as a political committee.

An intern working for New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan was caught on video swearing at President Donald Trump last week.

Senator Maggie Hassan's intern yelled, "Mr. President………" followed by an expletive, across the Capitol Rotunda at President Trump as his entourage entered the building.

That Hassan decided to suspend the intern, Keene State College Student Caitlin Marriott, for one week was first reported late Monday.

The video of the incident has since gone viral. Governor Sununu says he hopes Senator Hassan will decide to do what he called "the right thing."

New Hampshire Congresswoman Annie Kuster joined Democratic delegation that toured immigration control facilities in Texas over the weekend.

The group met with over 40 mothers who were separated from their children, and who are now being detained as a result of the president's recent immigration policies.

Kuster says she observed a lot of confusion among enforcement officers at the detention center who are unsure of how the families would be reunited.

After 18 months on the job, Jeanie Forrester is stepping down as leader of the New Hampshire Republican Party.

Citing "an opportunity to work with local government" Forrester announced her resignation in a late afternoon letter sent to her party's executive committee. 

Her resignation comes as both parties gear up for election season. It also follows campaign finance filings showing the state Democratic Party out-raising the New Hampshire GOP by close to 9-1.

New Hampshire has requested about $3.1 million in newly available election security funding from the federal government.

Governor Chris Sununu has vetoed a bill to expand electric net metering in New Hampshire, but renewable energy advocates hope legislators will force the bill through.

Ted Vansant runs a solar business and leads the state's sustainable energy advocacy group. He calls the governor's move short-sighted.

"I really feel like he's missing an opportunity to move our state toward the growth of good jobs, clean air, clean water, and true long-term cost savings," Vansant says. (Read his organization's full statement below.)

Bedford State Senator and Republican congressional candidate Andy Sanborn said allegations about his conduct at the Statehouse are being blown out of proportion by local media — despite a recent finding from the New Hampshire Attorney General's office that he did use "inappropriate language" toward a legislative intern in 2013.

Ask any fourth grader, Statehouse tour guide or civically engaged Granite Stater about the size of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, and they’ll likely have one oft-cited number at the ready: 400, the largest of any state in the nation and among the largest in the English-speaking world.