An internal investigation by Maricopa County officials substantiated allegations that staffers from Recorder Justin Heap’s office acted inappropriately after they were caught on tape removing equipment from the county’s central tabulation center during a local Tempe election in March.
The security footage, obtained by KJZZ through the state’s Public Records Law, appears to show Bryan Colby — the recorder’s chief information officer — and another unknown staff member removing a “pre-tabulation scanner” from a locked area at the Maricopa County Election & Tabulation Center in the afternoon on March 12, as votes were being counted in Tempe’s election.
The footage then shows Colby and the other person moving the scanner on cart out of the tabulation center and loading it into an unmarked gray truck before driving away at around 1:49 p.m.
Colby is also seen on other footage taking a handful of “what appears to be provisional ballot affidavit envelopes” from a locked cage, according to an investigation by the county’s human resources department
The report notes that other security camera footage then shows the staffers bringing the equipment into a different county building down the street where the Recorder’s Office is located.
“(Redacted) was pushing a cart holding what appeared to be the same scanner as the one removed from MCTEC,” according to the report. “Mr. Colby and (redacted) were walking behind (redacted) in the security video.”
The recorder’s staff eventually returned to the tabulation center with the scanner at around 2:27 p.m., according to a timeline in the report.
The investigation determined the incident raises serious security and chain of custody concerns for election equipment and ballot envelopes.
The supervisors replaced the scanner, which they determined was compromised by the recorder’s staff’s actions, at a cost of $70,000.
The HR investigation found that no provisional ballot envelopes were missing.
“Human Resources could not confirm why the envelopes were removed and potentially copied, or how they were returned to the Early Voting cage,” according to the report.
Recorder’s response
Earlier this week, Heap released a statement arguing the equipment rightfully belonged to his office.
In an email to the county’s HR director on March 30, Sam Stone, Heap’s chief of staff, made a similar argument and said Colby believed he was retrieving equipment belonging to the recorder.
He said either the recorder’s scanners are missing or the scanners Colby took do, in fact, belong to the Recorder’s Office and should not have been held by the Elections Department, which runs the central tabulation center on behalf of the board of supervisors.
“This entire incident could and should have been handled with a phone call, and we do not believe any continued investigation or conclusion is appropriate, certainly until such time as the above facts are addressed,” Stone wrote to the county’s HR director.
However, the county’s HR investigation concluded that the equipment did belong to the Elections Department and that Colby knew that at the time he took it.
The internal report includes screenshots of a chat conversation between Colby and Elections Director Scott Jarrett, in which Jarrett says the scanners in question “were purchased by the Elections Department.”
Jarrett eventually told Stone the same thing after Colby and the other staffer were caught on camera removing the device.
“Can you please direct Bryan Colby to return the Elections Department scanner immediately. Also, Bryan Colby needs to be directed to not access or remove Elections Department equipment in the future,” Jarrett wrote to Stone on March 12.
Jarrett provided invoices and other documentation showing the Elections Department purchased the equipment in 2023, which is backed by county budget documents that show the expenditures filed under the Elections Department’s account.
Stone initially apologized.
“Apologies, my understanding is the machine was marked for EV. Regardless, I have informed Bryan and Richard on our team that any equipment not directly identifiable in MCRO inventory is to be left alone, and we will submit budget requests for any such items that are deemed necessary on our end,” he wrote.
However, the Recorder’s Office has since changed its tune, claiming the equipment does belong to the recorder.
“The targeting of my staff is completely unacceptable,” Heap said in a statement. “No public employee should fear being threatened with criminal investigation for attempting to carry out a court-ordered responsibility.”
Heap argued the latest dustup is just another attempt by the board to avoid complying with a court order resulting from a lawsuit the recorder filed against the supervisors over control of the county’s elections.
The fallout
The whole incident only came to light after Heap filed an emergency motion in Maricopa County Superior Court this week, asking the judge in that case to intervene after an investigator showed up at Colby’s home.
That investigator, an off-duty Pinal County Sheriff deputy, is working for former Pinal County Attorney Kent Volkmer, Votebeat reported. Volkmer was appointed by Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell to investigate whether the allegations against the recorder’s staff rise to the level of criminality.
As counsel to both Heap and county supervisors, Mitchell has a conflict of interest in the case and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is not involved in the investigation, a spokesperson said.
