Alaska Congressman Nick Begich knows all about ranked-choice voting. He’s been through the process twice — once in 2022 and again in 2024. He’s had to explain it countless times to thousands voters both in Alaska and Outside.
On Monday, Begich filed a bill to outlaw ranked-choice voting in federal elections. Cosponsoring the bill is Congressman Abraham Hamadeh of Arizona, a Republican.
The Preventing Ranked Choice Corruption Act is intended to protect the integrity of America’s elections by amending the Help America Vote Act, and reversing the growing voter confusion and disenfranchisement with emergent RCV systems, which vary from state to state and county to county where they are being used.
“The nation does not need more uncertainty and confusion injected into the federal election process,” said Congressman Begich. “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.”
President Donald Trump has also expressed strong opposition to ranked-choice voting and has advocated for its ban. He called it a “fraudulent joke” and “one of the greatest threats to democracy” in posts on TruthSocial and during his Anchorage, Alaska rally in 2022 he criticized the complicated voting method that had just gone into effect.
So far, 14 states have banned ranked-choice voting statewide and another 11 are in the process of banning it.
Congressman Hamadeh emphasized the dangers Ranked Choice Voting poses to election integrity nationwide.
“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,” Hamadeh said. “Their motives are clear – they do not want to help Americans vote – they only want to help corrupt politicians win.”
Three states use RCV in statewide elections — Alaska, Hawaii, and Maine.
Alaska’s new Repeal Now group is circulating a petition to repeal the ranked-choice voting used in Alaska.
“In Alaska, ranked-choice voting has led to a delay and lack of transparency,” said Bernadette Wilson, one of the sponsors of Repeal Now. “It’s added to voter confusion and disenfranchisement. This is why we are actively collecting a new round of signatures to repeal this convoluted system in November of 2026.”
Wilson added, “We know voters were deceived and we feel confident they will vote yes to repeal this time.”
