Representative Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ) responded to accusations of lying about the rationale behind his recently introduced PROVE Act on X (formerly Twitter).
ABC15's Garrett Archer began by saying, "We have not seen 20 years of the UOCAVA (Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act) being exploited. These are members of the military and most of them even sign away their right to a secret ballot so it can be processed and counted. I'm unsure why Hamadeh and his staff are so hung up about lying about this."
Rep. Hamadeh responded with data taken from the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), which suggested that out of 1,327,324 votes transmitted via UOCAVA, "70% went to overseas citizens, not military voters."
Additionally, he noted that "The report confirms what we've suspected - nearly half of all UOCAVA voters claim legal voting residence in just four states."
"Meanwhile, almost half of jurisdictions reported having 10 or fewer registered UOCAVA voters," Rep. Hamadeh continued, adding, "This concentration in select states raises legitimate questions about verification and oversight capabilities."
Moreover, the Arizona Congressman cited how "Only 68.4% of transmitted UOCAVA ballots came back - meaning over 400,000 ballots are floating around out there. The report notes this return rate actually decreased from 2020."
"These data points reinforce why the PROVE Act's enhanced verification measures for overseas voting make sense," concluded Hamadeh, "When you've got 70% of these ballots going to non-military civilians abroad, concentrated in a handful of states, with declining return rates, that's a system begging for stronger safeguards."
Archer later shared "The super suspicious share of UOCAVA registration in 2024 by Arizona counties," with each county having less than 1% of voters registered as UOCAVA.
"I dunno guys. Maybe @RepAbeHamadeh and his staff are right. This is totally suspicious. These should all be much higher apparently," he added.
Hamadeh quickly fired back, "Why aren't you using the military numbers? Is it because it completely invalidates your rebuttal? This bill ensures that military voters are protected and loopholes are closed."
He quoted The Federalist's Hans von Spakovsky, who said, "The typical civilian Congress was looking at [when UOCAVA was created] was, for example, a State Department foreign service officer in Europe for a several-year assignment who would return to his or her home in Maryland or Virginia or another state when that assignment ended."
