Maricopa County supervisors press elections official over voter disenfranchisement claims

PHOENIX (CN) — Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap walked back voter disenfranchisement claims Wednesday before the county board of supervisors. 

“We have not seen any evidence this year that the lack of this Agilis machine has caused any voter disenfranchisement,” he told the Republican-dominated board under oath. “Voters may have been disenfranchised in previous administrations, but not this one.”

When later asked directly, Heap could not point to specific examples of voter disenfranchisement under previous administrations. 

Heap, like many other Arizona Republicans, has repeated false claims of election fraud, and he ran for the recorder’s office in 2024 on the promise to end widespread voter disenfranchisement. In a state court hearing on Jan. 26, Heap’s chief of staff, Sam Stone, said voters are being disenfranchised because of issues with counting provisional ballots that could be remedied by the county’s purchase of an Agilis machine, which can sort thousands of ballots at a time. 

The board subpoenaed Heap to explain that statement and provide it with a written report containing all available evidence of voter disenfranchisement. Heap's staff provided thousands of documents to the board before Wednesday’s meeting. 

There, Heap said Stone’s statement was misinterpreted — he meant only that the county’s purchase of an Agilis machine would prevent voter disenfranchisement. The county says the machine is too expensive — around $30,000 — and that administrators don’t have the facilities necessary to host it. 

The Agilis machine is just one of many points of election control over which Heap sued the board in June. Heap challenges a shared services agreement with the previous recorder’s office administration that shifted certain authorities away from his office and to the board. Namely, Heaps wants to retain control of in-person early voting and split the election department’s IT office in half. 

Kory Langhofer, who represents the county in court, told the board that settlement negotiations have been “splitting hairs” for months before Heap even took the issue to court. Since then, Maricopa County Judge Scott Blaney has encouraged the parties to settle out of court, stating plainly that he doesn’t like to interfere with political squabbles. 

The county sent a settlement offer to Heap last week.

“We have not got what I can describe to you as a serious response,” Langhofer said. 

He said Heap’s counsel gave a counteroffer over the phone on Monday but refused to send it in writing. 

“This is not normal,” Langhofer said. 

In the most recent offer, the county agreed to give Heap half of the IT team and the power to run in-person early voting with the caveat that he use the same sites and staff the board plans to use on Election Day for efficiency purposes. 

Langhofer said the offer should give Heap everything he asked for, minus the Agilis machine. 

“I’m really mystified by why Recorder Heap doesn’t respond and just say 'yes' or 'no,'” Republican Supervisor Debbie Lesko said after Heap was excused from the meeting. “To me, these terms seem really reasonable.”

Outside the county building, Heap said negotiations have been unsubstantial until recently, as Blaney prepares to rule for a final time.

“I don’t know how we go forward and have negotiations if there’s problems in the future if we don’t have the court clarify what the law says,” Heap said. We can’t have a negotiation when one side says, ‘our duties are our duties, the recorder’s duties are also our duties unless we allow the recorder to do them.’” 

Heap said all duties taken from the recorder’s office by the board should be returned, including running in-person early voting without the board dictating polling locations. 

More than 150 Heap supporters packed the building, decked out in American flags and MAGA hats, hissing and holding thumbs down every time the supervisors spoke, and holding their thumbs up for Heap.

“It is clear that the voters do not trust the board,” Heap said. “They trust the recorder’s office to do a better job.”

The five-member board voted unanimously on a resolution to adopt the terms of the settlement offer, bypassing the need for Heap to come to the table. 

“This is us planting our flag and saying, all right, if we don’t hear from you, this is how elections are gonna have to be done because we still have to follow statutes,” Thomas Galvin, the board’s lone Democrat, said after the meeting. “I think today we showed that we’re the adults in the room. We’re trying to have a good election this July and this November.”

Before Heap left, Chairperson Kate Brophy-McGee asked whether Heap would agree to meet voluntarily and continue discussing the settlement. Heap said he can’t yet commit, fearing that the board may try to vote him out of office if it isn’t satisfied with his report. 

Galvin laughed at the suggestion. 

“I think he was ducking behind that excuse, because he didn’t want to come in here, because he knew he didn’t have satisfactory answers,” Galvin said. 

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