By Dana Wormald | Editor
Good morning, New Hampshire, and welcome to Wednesday. Today, Molly Rains reports on what makes a sighting of the beloved Atlantic puffin so rare in New Hampshire and why it’s unlikely that they’ll ever take up residence here. Also, States Newsroom’s David Lightman looks at a new report that sounds the alarm about mass voter challenges. And, from Stateline’s Tim Henderson, immigration arrests surge. Thank you for reading, and for supporting our work. — Dana
An Atlantic puffin off the Isles of Shoals, in Rye, in January 2024. A puffin is an uncommon sight in New Hampshire year-round, but especially rare in summertime, when most of the birds are nesting in island colonies off the coast of Maine. A bird spotted offshore of Rye this July was likely looking for food, scientists said. (Photo courtesy of Jim Sparrell/NH Audubon)
By Molly Rains
Every summer, New Hampshire’s seacoast draws visitors in droves, from sunbathing tourists to ravenous greenhead horseflies. Less expected are Atlantic puffins, which are rare in the state year-round and in summertime become so uncommon that a sighting triggers a statewide birdwatching alert. One such alert went out early this July, when a puffin was spotted near Rye’s Star Island.
Voters fill out their ballots at a Sioux Falls polling place during the South Dakota primary election on June 2, 2026. (Photo by Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)
By David Lightman
Mass voter challenges are likely to occur in the 2026 midterm elections, the Brennan Center for Justice warned Tuesday, with the potential to “undermine the democratic process.” President Donald Trump and the Republican Party have been laying the groundwork for questioning the election process in state after state, as Trump has made “election integrity” the centerpiece of his recent domestic policy initiatives, including in a July 16 address to the nation. The center, at NYU School of Law, found in a report Tuesday that more than 185,000 challenges to voter eligibility were filed by private citizens in 2024, though “the real number is likely higher” since many election officials either were not contacted or sent incomplete responses to an inquiry.
By Tim Henderson
Immigration arrests reached 1,593 per day in early July in a new push to detain and deport immigrants that has led to deaths in traffic stops. There were more than 43,000 arrests in June, the highest recorded by the Trump administration, according to statistics released Monday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reflecting new bookings into detention facilities.
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