The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and Maricopa County Recorder, Justin Heap, are engaged in an ongoing dispute regarding the locations of early ballot drop-off, emergency voting and voting centers.
Weeks before early voting is set to begin in 2026, Recorder Heap’s attorney sent a letter to the Board claiming only the Maricopa County Recorder has the authority to assign ballot drop box locations.
The letter warned that moving forward without the Recorder’s approval could put the Board, its employees and election volunteers at risk for criminal liability and possible felony charges.
Kate Brophy McGee, Chair of Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, joined “Arizona Horizon” to provide information on the arguments, challenges and how the outcome may affect voters.
Brophy McGee said this all started when the state statute noted the separate duties of the recorder and the board of supervisors when it comes to who registers voters and who counts the votes.
“Those issues are separated for a specific reason. So there is an agreement that the recorder and the board execute that say who does what. Because the responsibilities, jurisdictions will change as you go through an election, Mr. Heap started out by canceling that agreement but nothing came in its place,” Brophy McGee.
Heap took the board of supervisors to court, where the judge ultimately ruled that the board wrongly stripped the recorder’s office and that Heap should have control over the voter database. In looking at how to resolve this conflict, Heap has called for mediation while the board has declined this and prefers to work out an agreement in public.
“What I will tell you is that Vice Chair Debbie Lesko and I have reached out to the recorder countless times in public saying we want to work with you, we want to come up with an agreement. We have asked that it be in public, we have asked that it be recorded. Because we’ve come to prior agreement, we thought in prior times and not been successful in producing an outcome,” Brophy McGee said.
Approaching the topic of drop boxes, the attorney for the recorder has said that the approval of the location of drop boxes without the recorder’s authorization is a crime. The attorney also added that anyone who would handle said drop boxes, including election workers, would be arrested.
However, Brophy McGee does not agree with the notion that the recorder authorizes where these drop boxes go.
“The very last vote taken on any election is that the board will canvas or approve or certify the election. So we do have a role. The board also has a role in executing contracts with these sites where early voting and election day voting is going to take us. So we’ve asked for a role, we expect a role, that is part of our duty as managing elections,” Brophy McGee said.
With early voting ballots for the primary election going out soon, Brophy McGee shared her message to Arizona voters.
“We are working very hard. Our elections staff, and the recorder’s staff to conduct an election where every voter can be heard and their vote counted. We will continue to do that and focus on that. We will continue to agree to meet with the recorder and try and hammer these things out,” Brophy McGee said.
