PHOENIX — After a year and a half of legal wrangling, the battle over who controls early voting in Maricopa County is over.
The Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday – just one week before Arizona’s primary – to approve a settlement with Recorder Justin Heap.
“In the end of the day, we are here, and we want our voters to know they can go forward and vote confidently and know that it will be counted,” Board Chair Kate Brophy McGee said during the meeting. “And you can quit listening to the politicians and start back to living your lives. Your vote will count.”
In a joint statement with the board, Heap said: “My office is ready to carry out every responsibility entrusted to us under Arizona law, and we remain committed to delivering elections that are lawful, secure, transparent, and worthy of the public's trust.”
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The two sides had been locked in a legal battle since shortly after Heap took office in January 2025 over technology funding and control of early voting.
The deal, Brophy McGee said, gets the county out of the courtroom and provides needed clarity on how the county administers elections.
“I can stop disagreeing with outcomes and just simply focus on executing an election or supporting our staff to execute that election,” she said.
Heap also said the agreement establishes “a clear framework for administering elections moving forward.”
“From the beginning, my objective has been simple: to ensure the Maricopa County Recorder's statutory responsibilities are carried out in accordance with Arizona law,” he said.
Creating two separate election systems
The terms of the settlement were negotiated over the last week with a court-appointed mediator, Kory Langhofer, the board's attorney, said during Tuesday's meeting.
The deal essentially creates two separate election systems in the county: one for early voting overseen by the recorder and another for Election Day and emergency voting under the board. The board will also tabulate and canvass and early ballots that voters return on Election Day, known as “late earlies.”
Heap’s office will get equipment and staff for early voting, Langhofer said during the meeting.
The board also voted to allocate funding and staff to the Recorder's Office to build an IT system. Heap’s office will use the county’s existing system until it is complete.
“I believe this is a win for the recorder,” Board Vice Chair Debbie Lesko said. “I believe it’s a win for the Board of Supervisors. But most importantly, I believe it’s a win for Maricopa County voters.”
Supervisor Steve Gallardo, the only Democrat on the board, was the lone vote against the settlement, saying Heap and his executive team have been too partisan.
“He's gotten $20 million and a ton of new staff, and it's up to him to fulfill the commitment of that office,” he said. “And hopefully he can do it in a method that is going to be very neutral.”
Gallardo, who has called on Heap to resign, said taxpayers are paying the bill.
“We're creating two different elections departments,” he said. “That's what we're doing, and at the taxpayers' expense of $20 million. It's unfortunate.”
What the settlement does
The primary election will use a 12-point plan approved by the Arizona Supreme Court.
Starting with the November general election, the Recorder’s Office will control every aspect of early voting, including the selection and setup of vote centers, operation of equipment and staffing. The office will receive 12 new staff positions to administer early voting.
Heap delegated emergency voting to the board through the 2028 elections.
The Board of Supervisors and the county’s Elections Department will have responsibility for Election Day voting, including the choosing and setup of vote centers, equipment operation and staffing. As specified by Arizona law, the board will also tabulate all ballots.
As part of the deal, the board also allocated funding for 24 IT positions for the Recorder’s Office.
What led to the legal fight
State law divides election responsibilities between recorders and county supervisors, but the wording of those statutes is often unclear, assigning duties to the “recorder or other officer in charge of elections.”
To avoid confusion, county boards of supervisors and recorders usually specify who handles what in a shared-services agreement. After he took office last year, Heap terminated the agreement the board signed with his predecessor, which had moved the recorder’s IT department to the county.
Heap has argued that duties delegated to the “recorder or other officer in charge of elections” fall under his purview, and the Arizona Supreme Court sided with him last week, saying his interpretation was likely to prevail in court.
Heap argued that duties delegated to the “recorder or other officer in charge of elections” fall under his purview, and the Arizona Supreme Court sided with him last week, saying his interpretation was likely to prevail in court.
In the meeting, Brophy McGee welcomed the end of the legal battles, saying she was “sick of drama.”
“This agreement lets us do what I have wanted to do since I took office: Make Maricopa County boring again, have elections that nobody worries about, has anxiety attacks about,” she said.
In his statement, Heap said the implementation of the settlement will determine its success.
The mediator, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Christopher Coury, will decide on any future disputes over election administration. Any appeals of his decisions will go directly to the Arizona Supreme Court.
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