Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap

For 18 months, the Board refused negotiations. Then they lost in court. Six weeks later, they're still refusing to comply and facing contempt proceedings and sanctions for ignoring the Court's order. I've offered to sit down with the Board and our respective legal counsel so we can hammer out a written legal agreement. The Board refused. What the Board wants is a series of public hearings where it controls the agenda, controls the questions, controls the discussion, and controls the headlines. If they wanted solutions, they'd sit down with counsel. What they want is another political stage to continue the same public spectacle they've been using for months while ignoring the Court's rulings.

Read the full statement here: bit.ly/4vDfY5B

🚨 MARICOPA ELECTIONS UPDATE 43 days ago, the Court ruled the Board of Supervisors was acting in violation of the law. 43 days later, they still haven't returned the IT staff, systems, and resources the Court ordered restored. Instead, they continued interfering in election functions assigned by law to the Recorder, including directing poll workers to disregard instructions from Recorder staff at Recorder-run election sites. Yesterday, I asked the Court to hold the Board in contempt. Read full news release here: bit.ly/4vDfY5B

🚨MARICOPA COUNTY ALERT — The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors appears to be attempting to undermine a court order, usurp Recorder Justin Heap’s authority, and keep voters in the dark about a faster way to vote. AFL’s letter exposes what’s happening. And it’s explosive.

The Board is having a full meltdown because I objected to a resolution unlawfully giving themselves control over ballot drop boxes and declined to appear for a surprise public interrogation on less than an hour's notice. The Court has already ruled that the Board does not have unlimited authority over elections, yet it continues attempting to exercise powers Arizona law assigns to the Recorder. Voters deserve lawful election administration, not political stunts and last-minute public ambushes.

Today, the Superior Court denied the Board’s Motion to Stay. The law is clear. The Court has been clear. My office stands ready to move forward, comply with the Court’s orders, and prepare for secure and orderly elections in Maricopa County. The Board's endless campaign of obstruction is not leadership. It is a reckless attempt to preserve control the Board was never legally entitled to exercise.

@Jellenne @MaricopaVote Yes. x.com/i/status/20419…

.@MaricopaVote @azjustinheap My eldest has lived in CA since college. I've received a ballot at my home for him for every primary or election for over a decade despite "checking the box" and returning it to remove him from the voter rolls. Recorder Heap, I trust in sending this one back, you'll take the appropriate steps, finally.

Major victory for the rule of law. The court rejected the Board’s power grab and restored the Recorder’s authority as the principal elections officer in the county. With this ruling, we will move forward focused on delivering the secure, transparent, and accessible elections the voters of Maricopa County deserve.

🚨 MARICOPA COUNTY SUPERVISORS’ FLAWED EARLY VOTING PLAN UPDATE This week I shared my response to the Board’s demand that I approve their poorly designed, proposed early voting plan. The cliff notes version? The Board is lying to voters yet again. Here’s the full story. ⬇️ I explained my concern that the current early voting plan they proposed would restrict voter access and likely disenfranchise voters. Instead of addressing those concerns, the Board did what it often does — resorted to insults and political spin. They mockingly asserted that the spreadsheet they sent my office contained a “second tab” supposedly contained 160+ alternative early voting locations and that my office simply failed to read the full document. Unsurprisingly, the Board never produced the spreadsheet they say I was given. I don’t often respond to mockery, but when public trust is at stake, facts matter. I'm going to do what the Board did not, and post the spreadsheet here so the public can see through the Board's lie. As you can see, the alleged second tab is NOT 160+ alternate early voting sites for the Recorder to chose from. It’s a recycled masterlist of ALL 253 voting locations from 2024 including early voting, emergency voting, and Election Day voting centers combined. Of this 253 total locations only 26 served as early voting sites in the 2024 cycle and none of them have been confirmed as of Board's deadline yesterday. When the Board claimed that the second tab contained 160+ alternate early voting locations they were lying. Mockery is easy. Transparency is harder.

I have serious concerns that the proposed early voting plan [the Board] provided makes voting inconvenient and inaccessible for a large number of Maricopa County voters. I cannot support a plan that does not provide all voters a reasonably equal opportunity to vote. I remain willing to work in good faith. But cooperation does not mean rubber-stamping a plan my office had no role in building, and which fails to adequately protect the voters. Read my full response to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors below ⬇️

STATEMENT HERE: recorder.maricopa.gov/news/SAVE-Data…

🚨 NON-CITIZENS VOTING IN ARIZONA FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Using the Department of Homeland Security’s SAVE database the Maricopa County Recorder's Office has identified 60 non-citizens who previously voted in Maricopa County elections. As part of an effort to confirm full ballot eligibility for 61,681 Maricopa County voters affected by the “MVD-DPOC” issue, the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office conducted a review of these records using the federal SAVE database.   That review confirmed U.S. citizenship and full ballot eligibility for 58,782 voters. Those individuals’ registrations have already been updated to ensure they are able to receive a full ballot in future elections.   However, the review also identified 137 registered voters who are not U.S. citizens. Of those, 60 individuals have voted in prior elections. The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office is referring the identified non-citizens who have cast ballots to both the Arizona Attorney General’s Office and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office for further review and any appropriate action.   Our office extends its appreciation to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and @Sec_Noem for expanding access to the SAVE database. We look forward to continued collaboration to ensure election integrity and that only eligible citizens participate in Maricopa County elections.

🚨 UPDATE: COURT VICTORY! Just a few minutes ago, the Court delivered a huge victory for election integrity by issuing a Temporary Restraining Order to the Board of Supervisors blocking, for now, their sham subpoenas and preventing them from bullying and intimidating my employees. As I’ve said from day one, I’m committed to an honest, transparent and lawful election system. The Board’s intransigence continues to be the only sticking point to securing Maricopa County elections and restoring confidence for all voters, regardless of political affiliation.

🚨 BREAKING ELECTION INTEGRITY UPDATE My office is currently involved in an Election Integrity lawsuit against the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors for their unlawful seizure of my statutory duties. Late today, I learned that the Board has subpoenaed my staff — the same staff members who just one week ago testified against the Board in Superior Court. This is an apparent and naked attempt by the Board to intimidate and bully County Recorder staff, and unduly influence the pending court ruling, all while the Board continues to refuse to work in good faith with the Maricopa County Recorder's Office. Their actions are beyond inappropriate. My staff has bent over backwards to work with the Board, yet despite our earnest efforts the Board continues to engage in unhinged, emotional, and unprofessional behavior. Recorder Justin Heap Maricopa County Recorder

🚨 UPDATE: COURT VICTORY! Just a few minutes ago, the Court delivered a huge victory for election integrity by issuing a Temporary Restraining Order to the Board of Supervisors blocking, for now, their sham subpoenas and preventing them from bullying and intimidating my employees. As I’ve said from day one, I’m committed to an honest, transparent and lawful election system. The Board’s intransigence continues to be the only sticking point to securing Maricopa County elections and restoring confidence for all voters, regardless of political affiliation.

COURT VICTORY — Today, the Court issued a decisive ruling in our Election Integrity lawsuit against Maricopa County, entirely dismissing the countersuit filed against our office by County Attorney Rachel Mitchell. This important decision is consistent with the law and firmly establishes a fundamental principle: elected officials have the right to retain legal counsel of their own choosing and cannot be compelled to accept representation selected by the County Attorney. I am grateful to my attorney, James Rogers, of America First Legal, whose work on this matter has been exemplary. This ruling marks the first significant victory in our ongoing effort to restore the Recorder’s statutory authority and ensure the honest, trustworthy, and lawful elections that the voters of Maricopa County deserve.

I'm fighting for secure, trustworthy & lawful elections in Maricopa County. Today, the Board of Supervisors threw a temper tantrum. Their behavior reinforced why it was necessary to sue them over their illegal attempted hijacking of my statutory duties. I won't back down.

Instead of holding his own staff accountable for misplacing thousands of Election Day ballots and illegally seizing control of the Recorder’s statutory responsibilities, Chairman Galvin chose to attack the only part of the process that worked flawlessly. Sorry, Chairman, my staff refuses to commit felonies just because you prefer we wave through signatures that can't be verified. And as a matter of record, MCRO’s new signature-verification system increased security, added full bipartisan oversight, and finished the job in a fraction of the time of past Recorders.

@Datapleaz Yeah, that's pretty much exactly how it went down.

Justin - I'm not reading this wrong, thy said this morning they were found a blue drop box and not where they were supposed to be on election night. Then when you just relayed what they said, they changed their story and blamed you for misinformation. The COUNTY has a history of this from my view @rach_ic @JenWEsq

It’s been a very busy day for the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. Today, the Board discovered they had lost thousands of ballots, then dropped the problem on the Recorder to fix. They presented one set of facts to the Recorder and the Media in the morning, then did a complete 180° — releasing new "facts" late in the day that completely contradicted everything multiple members of the Board’s election staff had said previously. Then they tried to spin it into a lie about the Recorder spreading “misinformation”, instead of just telling the public the truth. Here’s the real story: ➡️ The Maricopa Board of Supervisors made yet another election mistake, which has further damaged public trust in our elections. …All those political gymnastics today must have been exhausting for the Supervisors.