Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap Files Lawsuit Against Board of Supervisors to Reclaim Statutory Authority & Resources to Protect Election Integrity for All County Voters

June 12, 2025

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap Files Lawsuit Against Board of Supervisors to Reclaim Statutory Authority & Resources to Protect Election Integrity for All County Voters

PHOENIX, AZ – Today, Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap filed a lawsuit against the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in order to resolve the ongoing dispute over the state’s largest election system, reclaim the legal authority that Supervisor Galvin attempted to strip from the Recorder with the Galvin-Richer Shared Services Agreement (SSA), and restore the resources necessary to fulfill his statutory duty to administer elections.

Recorder Heap issued the following statement:

From day one, I promised the voters of Maricopa County that I would deliver more secure, more honest, and more transparent elections for all voters, regardless of political party. Similarly, I have promised to utilize every tool under state and federal law, including Arizona’s judicial system, to accomplish these very popular objectives.

Today’s lawsuit seeks simply to reclaim the legal authority afforded to the County Recorder under Arizona law and ensure that my office is not further deprived of the resources necessary to perform those duties to the fullest extent possible. The Board of Supervisors’ bad faith tactics in the SSA negotiation, compounded by their unanimous May 19 budget vote to cement the Board’s seizure of my statutory duties through the budget process is deeply disappointing, forcing us to take this issue to court.

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.

Recorder Heap has retained America First Legal as his counsel in this matter. We have provided a fact sheet with all pertinent details relating to this matter.

Fact Sheet on Recorder Heap’s SSA Provisions

Recorder Justin Heap’s final SSA offer given to the Board on May 15th, which was drafted in collaboration with MCAO-assigned counsel, former Arizona Supreme Court Justice Andrew Gould, restores statutory integrity to election operations in Maricopa County.

The final SSA proposal by Recorder Heap represents the most secure and lawful manner of administering the shared election responsibilities required under current Arizona law.

Recorder Heap’s SSA highlights:

Organizes the responsibilities into Board responsibilities, Recorder responsibilities, and shared responsibilities
Restores statutory integrity by placing the responsibility for duties by those named in statute.
- The Recorder is responsible for all of early voting, voter registration and list maintenance, signature verification, etc. (sections 2.4, 3.1, 3.14a)
- With the Recorder taking back early voting, voters are ensured the benefit of convenient and fair voting locations (section 6.4).
- Election results will be sped up with the introduction of onsite early ballot tabulation on Election Day per A.R.S. § 16-579.01 and 16-579.02.
- Drop box management would fall under the Recorder as part of early voting duties.
Introduces transparency and public involvement in the election planning process with quarterly meetings and a joint election plan meeting which requires public comment on the agenda (sections 3.11 and 3.15).
Immediately restores to the Recorder’s Office his IT staff, equipment, servers and software for the Recorder’s duties including voter roll maintenance, early voting, GIS mapping, and the BeBallotReady.Vote voter dashboard (section 3.16).
Implements strengthened chain of custody policies and procedures for early voting and voter registration (section 3.13).
Stops voter disenfranchisement and makes election operations more efficient by offering a collaborative operating framework between the Recorder and Board (sections 2.7, 3.10.A, and 5.3).
- Requires all provisional ballot voters identified as legal and eligible by the Recorder to be tabulated by the Board.
- Shifts the period to terminate the SSA until 30 days before the end of the General Election year so that elections are not disrupted. The Board’s SSA only allowed termination during the middle of the election period while ballots would still be cast.
- Allows for mediation if disputes arise after the signing of the SSA, reducing the need for lengthy cycles of legal proceedings.

Situation Background

This dispute originated when, after losing re-election in a landslide during the 2024 primary election, outgoing Recorder Stephen Richer and then Supervisor Thomas Galvin, along with a lame-duck Board majority, quickly and secretly executed a new Shared Services Agreement (SSA) that took effect on December 10, 2024, stripping the incoming Recorder of significant election responsibilities and drastically shrinking his budget and staff.

Upon taking office, Recorder Heap revoked the absurd Galvin-Richer SSA that the lame-duck parties had collusively signed in an attempt to prevent Recorder Heap from exercising his statutory responsibilities over elections. Since then, Recorder Heap has tirelessly pursued every reasonable avenue to engage the Board of Supervisors in negotiating a new SSA that returns the Recorder’s statutory authority, budget, staff, and ability to deliver honest, secure, and transparent elections. Through formal letters, emails, phone calls, and direct meeting requests, and offers to enter into mediation, the Recorder has sought a collaborative solution to ensure secure, efficient elections. Despite these good faith efforts, the Board of Supervisors, led by Thomas Galvin, has made no meaningful attempts to address these critical defects contained within each of the Board’s SSA drafts, instead choosing to gaslight the public with a propaganda campaign of mis- and disinformation about the ongoing negotiations, while limiting Recorder Heap’s ability to participate in their public proceedings and outright banning participation by members of the public.

Make no mistake, due to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors’ chaotic and reckless actions, Arizona’s most populous county currently has no SSA in place—jeopardizing election readiness and security, and positioning the 2025 special elections and 2026 election for failure and a repeat of the chaos that has seemingly become the norm for Maricopa County in recent elections.

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