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State Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita announced Wednesday that she will seek the Republican nomination for secretary of state in 2022.
The chair of the Senate Government Committee, the Scottsdale lawmaker already is near the center of the raging battle over election law in Arizona. The race could vault Ugenti-Rita into the role of Arizona’s top election official and make her second in line to the governor.
Ugenti-Rita was widely excepted to enter the race after sponsoring some of the most high-profile and controversial election-related legislation at the Capitol in recent years. She sponsored a bill Gov. Doug Ducey signed this year, for example, that will require counties to remove voters from the permanent early voting list of those who do not vote early for two election cycles.