Sponsors (4)
The bill prioritizes federal uniformity and lower implementation costs by banning ranked ballots in Federal contests, at the expense of voter choice in RCV states and with likely administrative and legal disruption for states and taxpayers.
Federal voters will see a uniform, single-method (non‑ranked) ballot for U.S. contests, simplifying ballots and vote counting and reducing voter confusion in jurisdictions that use plurality systems.
State election officials and state governments avoid the costs and complexity of implementing ranked‑choice voting for Federal contests (training, new tabulation software, public education).
The U.S. Attorney General gains clear enforcement authority to ensure compliance with a federal ban on ranked ballots for Federal contests, enabling legal remedies against noncompliant States.
Voters in States that adopted ranked‑choice voting lose the ability to cast ranked ballots for Federal offices, reducing voter choice and the ability to express preferences beyond a single pick.
States that adopted ranked‑choice voting for Federal contests must change procedures and ballot designs for 2026 and beyond, causing administrative disruption for election officials.
The ban raises the risk of legal challenges from States that implemented RCV, likely increasing taxpayer‑funded litigation costs for both States and the federal government.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Bans the use of ranked-choice voting systems in Federal elections, effective for elections held in 2026 and after.
Prohibits the use of ranked-choice voting in Federal elections by amending the Help America Vote Act to add a new rule forbidding systems where voters rank candidates by preference. The ban applies to Federal elections held in 2026 and thereafter and adds enforcement authority via the Attorney General under HAVA. The bill renumbers two existing HAVA sections to accommodate the new provision and updates the Act’s table of contents and enforcement cross-reference. It does not create new funding or program authorizations; it imposes a federal prohibition on a particular voting method for Federal contests.
Official title: To prohibit the use of ranked choice voting in elections for Federal office.
Introduced April 28, 2025 by Abraham J. Hamadeh · Last progress April 28, 2025