This post originally appeared at https://thestarnewsnetwork.com/2025/04/05/representative-abe-hamadeh-proposes-bill-to-halt-funding-to-states-that-print-federal-ballots-in-other-languages/

Representative Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ-08) recently introduced The VOTE Act — Voting Only Through English — in Congress, which would halt funding to states for federal elections that print ballots in additional languages besides English. Voters who don’t understand English can call official election hotlines for language assistance, so the multilingual ballots are not necessary.

Hamadeh said during an appearance on Just the News from Real America’s Voice, “It makes sense, why? Because in order to become a citizen, if you’re an immigrant, you want to become a citizen. We welcome that. But one of the basic requirements for becoming a United States citizen that’s been long standing was that you have to have proficiency and basic understanding of English.”

He went on, “If that’s the case, then why are we having multiple languages on a ballot? So I think it’s a common sense approach. I also think it’s an 80/20 issue. You know, I so often, I hear, you know, we have to cater to the Hispanic community. Well, Hispanics — I’m from Arizona — they don’t want to be patronized. They want to be — they’re Americans. And that’s why President Trump won the most out of any Republican [president] in modern history, the Hispanic vote. So, we have to make sure we have one common language, and we vote in a uniform standard, which is the English language.”

Hamadeh concluded, “It shouldn’t be too controversial. It’s a basic bill that solidifies President Trump’s executive order now — puts it in the election integrity front. So, we’re going to be introducing that next week.” Trump issued an executive order in March declaring English the official national language.

Several counties in Arizona are required by federal law to provide bilingual ballots and election materials. Those counties were required by an amendment to the Voting Rights Act added in 1975, known as Section 203, to provide ballots in Spanish or Native American languages primarily due to the state’s large Hispanic population, not due to any racist incidents. In contrast, several Southern states were required to provide bilingual ballots due to previous racist incidents. However, the mainstream media frequently fails to make that distinction about Arizona when reporting on Voting Rights Act requirements.

The 11 states targeted by the Voting Rights Act, which was first passed in 1965, put them under “preclearance” requirements under Section 5, which meant any change the states made to voting procedures had to be approved by the federal government first. It has made improving election laws very time consuming and expensive for those states.

In 2020, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Arizona violated the Voting Rights Act by removing the requirement from the state’s Election Procedures Manual in 2019 to print ballots and election materials in other languages. However, the modification did not change the fact that federal law still required four counties — Maricopa, Pima, Yuma and Santa Cruz — to print bilingual ballots.

The purpose of the Voting Rights Act was to prohibit state and local governments from denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, a right guaranteed by the 15th Amendment. It has since broadened far beyond its original scope to add onerous requirements on states and localities located mainly in the South. The bilingual requirements were only meant to be temporary, but Congress keeps extending them due to officials afraid of being labeled racist.

The extra printing has resulted in very long ballots during some elections, causing complaints from voters feeling overwhelmed by the pages and pages. It also greatly increased the cost to taxpayers to duplicate all the ballots in another language. The federal government does not provide financial aid in order to comply; the Voting Rights Act is an unfunded mandate. The federal requirements also forced election departments to staff a significant number of bilingual election workers to conduct elections, which was difficult since it is temporary work and finding temporary employees for the relatively low-level positions has caused frustration for election officials. Many bilingual poll workers have revealed after elections that not a single person came to them for language assistance.

The U.S. requires immigrants to learn English in order to naturalize and become citizens, which includes the right to vote in federal elections. According to the site Pro English, “The only logical rationale for the mandatory provision of ballots and voting materials in other languages is to facilitate and encourage voting by non-citizens — a violation of federal law.”

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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter / X. Email tips to rachel.r.alexander@gmail.com.
Photo “Rep Abe Hamadeh” Rep. Abe Hamadeh.

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