MONTGOMERY — State Rep. Wes Allen (R-Troy) on Thursday announced that he will seek the Republican nomination to be Alabama’s next secretary of state in the 2022 election cycle.
Allen made the announcement in front of the State House, with a crowd of family, friends, fellow legislators and local elected officials from Pike County behind him.
He is currently serving his first term in the House of Representatives after being elected in 2018. Allen previously served as the probate judge of Pike County for nearly a decade, a position through which he was responsible for managing the county’s elections. In remarks, Allen stressed that this role would give him local elections perspective as secretary of state, which oversees the state’s elections system.
“My entire career has prepared me for this position. As a Probate Judge, I ran 18 elections without a single error or problem,” Allen stated. “It is that type of error-free elections that our probate judges, circuit clerks, absentee election managers, boards of registrars, sheriffs and poll workers strive to achieve over and over. It is that standard that the people of Alabama deserve every time they go to cast their ballots.”
“I have been on the ground on Election Day and I understand the mechanics of how elections work” Allen explained. “I will be there to support hardworking election officials across this state, both Republican and Democrat, to do everything possible to assist them and to ensure that we have the most secure elections in this country,” he added. “I want every legal Alabama voter to know that their vote is important, it matters and it will be protected.”
During his time in the legislature, Allen has served as vice-chair of the House Constitution, Campaigns and Elections Committee and has sponsored several bills, including a proposed ban on curbside voting which is currently pending Senate consideration.
Allen is a graduate of the University of Alabama and a member of the First Baptist Church of Troy. He and his wife, Cae, have been married for 21 years and they have two children.
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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