Lawsuit centers on power struggle over elections in Arizona’s most populous county

PHOENIX (AP) — The top elections official in one of the nation’s most pivotal swing counties is suing the Maricopa County governing board over allegations that it’s attempting to gain more control over how elections are administered.

County Recorder Justin Heap filed a lawsuit Thursday in state court with the backing of America First Legal, a conservative public interest group founded by Stephen Miller, who is now the White House deputy chief of staff.

Heap, a former GOP state lawmaker who has questioned election administration in Arizona’s most populous county, has been at odds with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors for months over an agreement that would divide election operations between the two offices.

After taking office in January, Heap terminated a previous agreement that was reached between his predecessor and the board. He claimed in his lawsuit it would have restrained his power to run elections by reducing funding and IT resources for the recorder’s office.

Last year’s agreement also gave the board authority over early ballot processing, which drew criticism from Heap in his lawsuit.

Heap is asking the court to undo what the lawsuit calls “unlawful” actions by the board and to issue an order requiring the board to fund expenses he deems necessary.

“Despite their repeated misinformation and gaslighting of the public on these issues, defending the civil right to free, fair and honest elections for every Maricopa County voter isn’t simply my job as county recorder, it’s the right thing to do and a mission I’m fully committed to achieving,” Heap said in a statement Thursday.

The board’s chair and vice chair have called the legal challenge frivolous, saying Heap is wasting taxpayer money by going to court.

Negotiations between the offices have been ongoing since the beginning of the year, and the board said in a statement that it appeared things were going well after a meeting in April. It was only weeks later, the board said, that Heap came back with what he called a final offer that included dozens of changes.

Heap claims in the lawsuit that the board rejected his proposed agreement in late May. In a statement, America First Legal says the board separately voted on a tentative budget that shifts Heap’s key duties and underfunds the recorder’s office.

“From day one, Recorder Heap has been making promises that the law doesn’t allow him to keep,” Board Chairman Thomas Galvin said. “Arizona election statutes delineate election administration between county boards of supervisors and recorders to ensure there are checks and balances, and Recorder Heap clearly doesn’t understand the responsibilities of his position.”

Following President Donald Trump’s 2020 loss, Maricopa County became an epicenter for election conspiracy theories. Heap has stopped short of saying the 2020 and 2022 elections were stolen, but he has said the state’s practices for handling early ballots are insecure and has questioned how ballots are transported, handled and stored after they are submitted. Last year, Heap proposed an unsuccessful bill to remove Arizona from a multistate effort to maintain voter lists.

Heap’s predecessor, Stephen Richer, was rebuked in some GOP circles for defending the legitimacy of the 2020 and 2022 elections, in which Democrats including former President Joe Biden and Gov. Katie Hobbs won by razor-thin margins. Trump won Arizona in 2024, along with the other battleground states.