Judge sides with Arizona election official in ruling that has implications for midterms voting
PHOENIX (AP) — The top elections official in Arizona’s most populous county will have more authority in conducting elections after a judge sided with his office in a protracted legal battle with the local board that shares responsibility for overseeing voting.
The decision could have broad implications in one of the nation’s most prominent battleground states, which will host several high-profile races this fall. Maricopa CountyThe company, which includes Phoenix, has been abuzz with election conspiracy theorists since President Donald Trump. we lost the state to Democrat Joe Biden during his 2020 re-election bid.
Justin Heap, Republican recorder in Maricopa County lawsuit filed The Republican-dominated county board of supervisors alleged last summer that it illegally took control of some aspects of election administration. Heap alleged that the board moved funds, IT staff and some key functions (including ballot drop management and setting up early voting sites) away from his office through an agreement negotiated with his predecessor, with whom he had recently met. Defeated in GOP primary.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney mostly sided with Heap’s office in his decision, which was filed Thursday but made public Friday. He wrote that the oversight board “acted unlawfully and exceeded its legal authority by seizing the Recorder’s personnel, systems, and equipment and refusing to return them to the Recorder.”
Blaney also ruled that the registrar’s office is responsible for overseeing in-person early voting, among other duties, while the board is responsible for other operations such as selecting Election Day voting locations, providing polling places and hiring poll workers.
“The board’s assertion of plenary authority over election administration through its general supervisory powers is contrary to Arizona law,” the judge wrote.
Board President Kate Brophy McGee said the board would consider the appeal.
“I disagree with other parts of the decision and will explore all options with the Board of Supervisors, including an expedited appeal,” McGee, a Republican, said in a statement. “From day one, the Board of Supervisors has provided Recorder Heap with the resources and personnel necessary to carry out its statutory duties. We will continue to do so because voters always come first.”
In a statement, Heap praised the decision as “a clear and decisive victory for the rule of law and the voters of Maricopa County.”
“The Court confirmed that the Board cannot override state laws, leverage funding, or take control of election duties assigned to the Recorder,” Heap said. “This decision returns both authority and resources to my office to do its job.”
Heap, a former Republican state lawmaker Elected in 2024 After unseating incumbent Stephen Richer in the GOP primary and defeating a Democratic candidate in the general election. In the past Heap stood without recurrence false claims He said the 2020 and 2022 elections were stolen, but voters did not trust the state’s voting system and it was mismanaged.
Unfounded fraud claims Since the 2020 presidential election, threats of violence have been made against Richer and others at the Maricopa County election office. Richer blamed Heap Contributing to the creation of an environment of insecurity and harsh words for the office.
“She was catering to the really ugly things that people in that office had to go through,” Richer said of Heap in an interview last month. “And he allied himself with the people who were in the eye of the storm in creating it.”
After taking office, Heap terminated a previous agreement between Richer and the board that had outlined how election operations would be split between the two offices. Heap filed her lawsuit with the support of America First Legal, a conservative public interest group founded by Stephen Miller, now deputy chief of staff at the White House.
