American politician
Michelle Ugenti-Rita (born June 28, 1980) is an American politician and a former Republican member of the Arizona State Senate representing District 23 from 2019 to 2023. She previously served in the Arizona House of Representatives from 2013 to 2019. Ugenti served consecutively from January 10, 2011 until January 14, 2013 in the District 8 seat. She was a candidate for Secretary of State of Arizona in the 2022 election, but lost in the Republican primary.
Education.
She attended Desert Mountain high school. Ugenti graduated from Arizona State University in 2003 with a degree in business administration.
Career.
In 2017, Ugenti was the only Republican to oppose a 'Blue Lives Matter' bill that toughens penalties for assaulting off-duty police.
In January 2019, she sponsored legislation which would prohibit voters who received early vote ballots from casting those votes at polling places before or on election day (they would only be allowed to cast them through mail). Election officials from both parties, as well as voting rights advocates, opposed the legislation, saying that it solves no problem and with some saying it amounted to voter suppression. In 2018, about 228,000 voters had cast their early vote ballots on election day itself, but would be prohibited from doing so under the proposed law.
Ugenti has sponsored a number of bills making it harder to put ballot initiatives up to voters.
In 2021, she supported legislation that would require voters in Arizona who vote by mail to include identification paperwork along with their ballots. She also supported legislation that would purge registered voters from early voting vote rolls if they did not use early voting in two consecutive elections. Initially a supporter of the 2021 Maricopa County presidential ballot audit, she withdrew her support in July, 2021.
References.
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