by Matthew Holloway | Apr 8, 2026 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
U.S. Rep. Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ08) is renewing his call for a federal ban on ranked-choice voting (RCV) following a Maine court ruling that limited the system’s use in certain elections, citing concerns about election integrity and consistency in federal contests.
Debate over ranked-choice voting in Maine has included legal challenges to its application. In its ruling, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court found that ranked-choice voting could not be used in certain general elections for state offices where the state constitution requires winners to be determined by plurality.
Responding to developments surrounding ranked-choice voting, Hamadeh renewed his call for federal action. His office reiterated that position in a recent post on X, calling for a nationwide ban on ranked-choice voting in federal races.
Hamadeh’s team wrote, “The Maine Supreme Judicial Court just ruled that Democrats’ latest attempt to force Ranked-Choice Voting on governor and state legislative races is unconstitutional. Ranked-choice voting creates chaos, disenfranchises voters, and destroys trust in our elections. That’s why it fails everywhere it’s tried, and exactly why Congressman Hamadeh introduced the Preventing Ranked Choice Corruption Act to ban this corrupt system once and for all in all federal elections.”
The Arizona congressman previously introduced H.R. 3040, the “Preventing Ranked Choice Corruption Act,” in April 2025. The legislation would amend the Help America Vote Act to ban the use of ranked-choice voting in elections for Congress and the presidency.
Hamadeh said the bill would prohibit what he described as a “confusing and disenfranchising voting scheme,” and raised concerns that ranked-choice voting can alter outcomes through multiple rounds of vote redistribution.
Ranked-choice voting allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference rather than selecting a single candidate. If no candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and those ballots are redistributed based on voters’ next selections. The process continues in rounds until a candidate secures a majority.
The system is currently used in a limited number of states for federal elections. Maine employs ranked-choice voting in congressional and presidential races, making it the first state to adopt the system at that level.
Alaska also uses ranked-choice voting for federal elections following voter-approved reforms. A repeal effort narrowly failed by 664 votes in 2024.
Opposition to ranked-choice voting has expanded across multiple states. Hamadeh’s renewed push reflects a broader Republican effort to prohibit the system, with several states enacting bans or considering legislation to prevent its use.
Hamadeh’s proposal would apply only to federal elections and require congressional approval before taking effect. If enacted, states would retain authority over their own election systems for state and local races.
The legislation has remained in committee since its introduction and has not advanced.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Matthew Holloway | Apr 30, 2025 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Arizona Republican Congressman Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ08) announced on Monday that he will co-lead the Preventing Ranked Choice Corruption Act with Rep. Nick Begich (AK-At Large). The legislation looks to amend the Help America Vote Act by banning the “confusing and disenfranchising voting scheme” practice of Ranked Choice Voting nationwide.
Hamadeh’s press release explained that Ranked Choice Voting, also sold-as instant-runoff voting as, is a “flawed process,” which “allows for a majority party to be split between preferred candidates, thus allowing the minority candidate a pathway to victory- which would never occur in a regular election.” Under the system, voters are able to sequentially rank each candidate. If none of the candidates claims a majority on the first round, the votes are redistributed based on the voters’ second choices and so-on down the line until a majority emerges, essentially eliminating the possibility of a plurality vote winning an election.
In the text of the proposed bill, it states simply, “A State may not carry out any election for Federal office using a system of ranked choice voting under which each voter ranks the candidates for the office in the order of the voter’s preference.’’
Rep. Hamadeh said in a statement, “The same Democrat pawns who support allowing non-citizen voting without voter ID and same day voter registration also want to turn our democracy into a rank choice voting scheme. Their motives are clear – they do not want to help Americans vote – they only want to help corrupt politicians win.”
He added, “In Arizona, we see tremendous amounts of liberal out-of-state dollars pour into our state every year to try to alter our election processes. Fortunately, our citizens see through the lies of expensive glossy mailings and reject Ranked Choice Voting.”
In a corresponding statement, Rep. Begich said, “The nation does not need more uncertainty and confusion injected into the federal election process. ‘One person, one vote’ is a proven tried-and-true method that is easy to understand, easy to audit, and quick to report. Experiments with our national election systems risk disenfranchisement of voters and lead to outcomes that do not represent the true will of the American people.”
Ranked Choice voting is currently the law of the land in Alaska, and Begich is intimately familiar with its problems. According to The Alaska Beacon, his own race went to a second round, despite his taking 8,000 more votes than his opponent in the first round with164,117 votes total. Alaska voted to keep the system in place by a narrow margin for Ballot Measure 2, barely defeating reforms to kill the practice by 664 votes. In a 2023 op-ed, Heritage Foundation Senior Legal Fellow Hans von Spakovsky called Ranked Choice Voting “a confusing, chaotic ‘reform.’” Spakovsky warned, “It fundamentally changes the election process, effectively disenfranchises voters, and allows marginal candidates not supported by a majority of voters to be elected.
“It is a confusing and opaque process that robs voters of the ability to re-educate and re-examine the top two vote-getting candidates in a run-off election when one candidate does not initially win a majority, and it diminishes the ability of voters to make informed, knowledgeable choices of who would best represent them.“
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
