Board decides Heap should control early in-person voting in Maricopa County elections

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap (R) appear no closer to resolving a legal battle over who controls the county’s elections. However, last week the board voted to give Recorder Heap control over early in-person voting, which was one of his demands before he filed suit against the board last summer.

Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss the next steps in achieving his vision of fair elections.

“The Board has since taken a conciliatory turn, they’ve at least publicly stated that they think early voting needs to return,” Heap said.

Recorder Heap has already announced plans to revise early in-person voting booths, saying he had “serious concerns” about Board Chair Kate Brophy McGee (R) and Vice Chair Debbie Lesko’s (R) plans.

“Fundamentally, it comes down to a dispute between the law,” Heap said. “My position and the court, is that the law says what it means. The Board’s position has been that it gets to determine what the law of Arizona means when it comes to election issues.”

McGee was on an episode of “Arizona Horizon” a week prior and she said that Heap was politically posturing and that the Board remains concerned over voters participation in fair elections.

“Following the law is not political posturing,” Heap said. “Ultimately certain duties are assigned to the Recorder’s office so we expect to do those without the interference of the Board.”

Although at the top of the Board there are fundamental disagreements the end goal is to make the process run smoother.

Heap added, “I think both sides would acknowledge that we need cooperation between both our parts. Even if all the recorders duties are returned immediately to his office, still, we need to cooperate because the early voting locations added come the day of elections.”