Opinion: Some will try to define Michelle Ugenti-Rita by her voter bill. But her answers to questions about the Senate election audit are far more critical.
Photo: Gage Sizemore/Flickr
By Abe Kwok | Arizona Republic
Republican Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita is running for Arizona Secretary of State in 2022.
A natural inclination to Michelle Ugenti-Rita’s announcement she’s running for secretary of state is to frame her as proponent of restricting the vote.
There’s a debate to be had on that.
But that would miss the bigger point about what looms in the 2022 election.
It’s tempting to define Ugenti-Rita by voter bills
Ugenti-Rita, a Republican who chairs the Senate Government Committee, is the architect of legislation that purges – and renames, by necessity – the Permanent Early Voting List of voters who don’t cast a ballot in any election over the stretch of two election cycles.
Senate Bill 1485 passed on party-line votes in the two chambers and was signed into law by Gov. Doug Ducey.
She also voted for Senate Bill 1713, which would have required voters to provide an ID, such as a driver’s license or voter ID number, to cast a ballot by mail. The legislation failed in the House by a couple of no votes by Republicans.
Neither legislation is warranted, in my view. Updating voter rosters by punishing infrequent voters is excessive. Requiring them to jump through unnecessary hoops to vote by mail is harmful.
Opinion: Some will try to define Michelle Ugenti-Rita by her voter bill. But her answers to questions about the Senate election audit are far more critical.
By Abe Kwok | Arizona Republic
Republican Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita is running for Arizona Secretary of State in 2022.
A natural inclination to Michelle Ugenti-Rita’s announcement she’s running for secretary of state is to frame her as proponent of restricting the vote.
There’s a debate to be had on that.
But that would miss the bigger point about what looms in the 2022 election.
It’s tempting to define Ugenti-Rita by voter bills
Ugenti-Rita, a Republican who chairs the Senate Government Committee, is the architect of legislation that purges – and renames, by necessity – the Permanent Early Voting List of voters who don’t cast a ballot in any election over the stretch of two election cycles.
Senate Bill 1485 passed on party-line votes in the two chambers and was signed into law by Gov. Doug Ducey.
She also voted for Senate Bill 1713, which would have required voters to provide an ID, such as a driver’s license or voter ID number, to cast a ballot by mail. The legislation failed in the House by a couple of no votes by Republicans.
Neither legislation is warranted, in my view. Updating voter rosters by punishing infrequent voters is excessive. Requiring them to jump through unnecessary hoops to vote by mail is harmful.
