A day after attorneys for Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap and the Board of Supervisors sparred in court, a judge ordered both sides to meet with a mediator in an attempt to settle their ongoing dispute over control of the county’s elections.
The dispute between the recorder and the supervisors has dragged on for more than a year and ended up in Maricopa County Superior Court last summer after Heap sued the board, claiming it was illegally infringing on his authority.
Judge Scott Blaney already handed Heap a legal victory in the case, finding the supervisors illegally withheld information technology staff and resources from his office.
Blaney also attempted to provide clarity on Arizona’s tangled web of election laws that split duties between county recorders and supervisors in order to resolve disagreements between Heap and the Maricopa County board over who controls which duties.
Throughout the case, Blaney has pleaded with both sides to settle their differences outside of the courtroom.
“As I stressed before, please keep talking to each other,” Blaney said on Monday. “I know it'd be a miracle if this thing resolved outside of court, but you know miracles are still possible.”
Towards the end of that hearing, attorneys for the recorder and the board said they’d be willing to engage in discussions with an independent mediator.
On Tuesday, Blaney issued an order requiring Heap and the supervisors to meet with Maricopa County Judge Christopher Coury on June 22 in an attempt to settle the dispute — just two days before early ballots will be mailed to voters in Arizona’s primary election.
James Rogers, an attorney for Heap, had suggested the court appoint conservative attorney Cleta Mitchell as a mediator. Mitchell is an ally of President Donald Trump who participated in efforts to undermine the results of the 2020 presidential election and helped fund the Arizona Senate’s flawed review of that race.
But an attorney for the board balked at that suggestion, calling her “overtly biased.”
