March 02, 2025
Maricopa County’s new recorder is rejecting an agreement that splits control of the county’s elections between his office and supervisors, and is threatening to sue the supervisors if they don’t give him more power.
This article was originally published by Votebeat, a nonprofit news organization covering local election administration and voting access.
Recorder Justin Heap’s protest puts control over elections in the state’s most populous and high-profile swing county up in the air and sets up a messy fight between prominent Republican officials that could affect voters, with local elections approaching in May and the 2026 gubernatorial election looming.
Heap, a former state representative, is seeking more staff for the recorder’s office and more control over early voting. He claimed in a news release this week that the previous board of supervisors took this away from his office in a “backroom, eleventh hour power grab,” referring to a shared-services agreement they approved shortly before he took office.
He said the new supervisors’ refusal to quickly meet to discuss a new agreement is “jeopardizing Maricopa County election readiness.”
Supervisors Chairman Thomas Galvin rebutted Heap’s claims in his own news release, saying that “conversations have been happening for weeks,” and that supervisors look forward to working with Heap on a new agreement.
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