CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A lawsuit filed Monday challenges a New Hampshire law that would require proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote and photo identification when casting a ballot, saying it is one of the most restrictive voting laws in the nation.
The new law was set to take effect after the November elections. Republican Gov. Chris Sununu signed the bill earlier this month.
The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of New Hampshire in U.S. District Court in Concord on behalf of the Coalition for Open Democracy, the League of Women Voters of New Hampshire, the Forward Foundation, and five voters. It names New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella and Secretary of State David Scanlan as defendants.
Laws like this that "create unconstitutional roadblocks to voting and which could stop thousands of eligible voters from participating in an election, have no place in our state,” Henry Klementowicz, deputy legal director at the ACLU of New Hampshire, said in a statement.
The lawsuit asks a judge to block enforcement, saying federal courts have weighed in on the matter before. A similar law in Kansas, which required proof of citizenship for state and federal elections, was found in 2018 to violate both the U.S. Constitution and the National Voter Registration Act.
In August 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed some parts of a law requiring proof of citizenship to be enforced in Arizona as the legal fight continues in lower courts. The ACLU of New Hampshire said that Arizona does not require proof of citizenship for federal elections.
Under New Hampshire's current law, those who don’t bring photo IDs to the polls can sign an affidavit attesting to their identity and are required to provide documentation within seven days. The new law would eliminate voter identification exceptions and would require those registering to vote to show a passport, birth certificate or other evidence of citizenship.
“This newly enacted voter registration requirement creates confusion, raises doubts for voters, and leaves them feeling hampered by the process,” Liz Tentarelli, president of the League of Women Voters New Hampshire, said in a statement Monday. "Instead of creating unnecessary barriers to voters, we need our elected officials to advance meaningful legislation that ensures New Hampshire voters can make their voices heard.”
A spokesperson for the state attorney general's office, Michael Garrity said in a statement, "We will review the complaint and respond as appropriate.”
Sununu signed the bill on Sept. 12. It is set to become law two months after that.
“We have a proud tradition and proven track record of condition elections that are trusted and true,” he said at the time. "Looking forward to the next decade or two, this legislation will instill even more integrity and trust in the voting process.”
Voting by noncitizens is prohibited in federal elections and is not allowed in any state elections, although a handful of municipalities nationwide allow it in limited circumstances. While illegal voting by noncitizens is extremely rare, the possibility that it could happen on a wider scale because of the influx of migrants at the southern border has become a theme of Republican campaign messaging this year.
In Washington, Republicans are trying to push through the SAVE Act, a proof-of-citizenship mandate for voters, as part of wider legislation aimed at avoiding a partial government shutdown this fall.
FILE - A voter enters a booth to fill out a ballot in a primary election to pick candidates for governor, the U.S. House, and the state Legislature, Sept. 10, 2024, in Nashua, N.H. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, file)
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street closed its latest winning month and quarter with more records on Monday. The drift higher for U.S. stocks followed a wild start to the week for financial markets in Asia, where Japanese stocks tumbled and Chinese indexes soared. The S&P 500 climbed 0.4% to an all-time high and clinched its fifth straight winning month and fourth straight winning quarter. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 17 points, or less than 0.1%, to its all-time high set on Friday. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.4%. Treasury yields rose in the bond market.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are hanging near their records Monday following a wild start to the week for financial markets in Asia, where Japanese stocks tumbled and Chinese indexes soared.
The S&P 500 was 0.1% lower in afternoon trading, coming off its sixth winning week in the last seven. The Dow Jones Industrial Average pulled back 181 points, or 0.4%, from its all-time high set on Friday. The Nasdaq composite was 0.2% lower, with roughly an hour remaining in trading.
It’s a pause for Wall Street following a catapult to records on hopes the slowing U.S. economy can keep growing while the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates to offer it more juice. A big test will arrive Friday, when the U.S. government offers its latest monthly update on the job market.
An overriding worry on Wall Street is whether the economy may already be heading for a recession. Even though the Fed cut rates earlier this month and has indicated more relief is on the way, U.S. employers have already begun paring back on their hiring. Before this month, the Fed had kept interest rates at a two-decade high in hopes of slowing the economy enough to stamp out high inflation.
“Payrolls remain the biggest catalyst” for the U.S. stock market until the election, strategists and economists at Bank of America wrote in a BofA Global Research report.
At Goldman Sachs, economist David Mericle said he’s expecting Friday’s report to show hiring in September was stronger than the 146,000 growth in payrolls that economists across Wall Street are broadly forecasting.
In the past, a stronger-than-expected number could have hurt the stock market by fanning worries about upward pressure on inflation. Now, though, it would likely be welcomed as a signal that a recession shouldn’t be as big a worry.
Interest rates and the strength of the economy are usually the two main levers that set prices for stocks. In Asia, the levers were pulling in opposite directions.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 slumped 4.8% on worries the country’s incoming prime minister will support higher interest rates and other policies that investors see as less market-friendly. Shigeru Ishiba is set to take over on Tuesday.
Ishiba has expressed support for the Bank of Japan’s move to pull interest rates away from their near-zero level, which puts upward pressure on the value of the Japanese yen. A stronger yen can hurt profits for Japanese exporters, which make sales in other currencies and then convert them back into yen.
Toyota Motor’s stock fell 7.6% in Tokyo, while Honda Motor’s dropped 7%. Monday.
Stellantis, the company that owns the Jeep brand and others, tumbled 14.7% in Milan after cutting its forecast for upcoming profit. It cited investments to turn around its U.S. operations and increased Chinese competition.
That in turn helped to drag down automakers Ford Motor and General Motors on Wall Street. Ford fell 2.6%, and GM dropped 3.8%.
Also on Wall Street, cruise-ship operator Carnival lost 1% even though it reported stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It gave a forecast for growth of an important underlying measure of profit in the current quarter that fell short of analysts' estimates.
In China, meanwhile, indexes soared 8.1% in Shanghai and 2.4% in Hong Kong following the latest announcements of stimulus for the world’s second-largest economy. It was the best day for Shanghai stocks in nearly 16 years.
China’s central bank announced moves on Sunday to ease mortgage rates for existing home loans by Oct. 31. That followed a flurry of announcements last week from China’s central bank and government intended to prop up the Chinese economy, whose growth has been flagging in part because of the weight of a struggling real-estate sector.
Markets in mainland China will be closed Tuesday through Oct. 7 for a holiday marking 75 years of communist rule.
In the bond market, U.S. Treasury yields rose after investors took comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell as a possible hint that coming cuts to rates may be more traditional sized. The Fed began its rate-cutting campaign this month with a larger-than-usual reduction of half a percentage point, and many traders had built expectations that the next meeting in November could yield a similar sized reduction.
But Powell said again on Monday that rate cuts are not something the Fed needs to work quickly on. After his comments, traders were betting on just a 35% probability the Fed will cut rates by another half a percentage point in November. That's down from a 53% chance seen the day before, according to data from CME Group.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 3.79% from 3.75% late Friday. The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for what the Fed will do with short-term rates, added more. It climbed to 3.65% from 3.56%.
AP Writer Zimo Zhong contributed.
FILE - The New York Stock Exchange is shown on Sept. 18, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)
The New York Stock Exchange, center, is shown on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)
People walk by monitors showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
A man walks by monitors showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
A woman looks at monitors showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm as she waits at an traffic intersection in Tokyo, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
A man stands by monitors showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm as he waits at a traffic intersection in Tokyo, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
A man who called himself a trader takes a picture of monitors showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
A man looks at monitors showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo, Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
