Less than a week after a judge blocked subpoenas seeking testimony from Recorder Justin Heap’s staff, the Maricopa Board of Supervisors voted to compel Heap himself to testify under oath about claims of voter disenfranchisement and other election issues.
Board Chairwoman Kate Brophy McGee, a Republican, signed three subpoenas last week to force testimony by Heap staffers who testified in court about alleged issues with the county’s election systems, including that a lack of funding and changes to state law led to voter disenfranchisement in past elections - claims Heap later contradicted.
Days later, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney temporarily blocked those subpoenas over concerns they could interfere in the ongoing legal battle between Heap and the board over control of the county’s elections.
“The only concern the court has … is that the court has an obligation to ensure the integrity, protect the integrity of these proceedings and protect the witnesses that appear before it,” Blaney said in court on Tuesday.
As the legal fight over the subpoenas plays out in court, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Wednesday to compel Heap to testify and prepare a report detailing many of the allegations his office levied in public and court hearings, including the voter disenfranchisement claims.
Supervisor Debbie Lesko, also a Republican, accused Heap of muddying the waters by refusing to directly answer various questions from the board about election processes, including Lesko’s concerns that the recorder is no longer providing adequate voter registration assistance to senior living facilities in her district.
“This is a pattern — a pattern of refusing to answer basic questions related to his job, his budget requests, and election-related procedures,” Lesko claimed, saying Heap also provides “incorrect” information to the public.
Lesko said the testimony is needed to clear up confusion so the board and recorder can do their jobs, which include jointly administering the upcoming 2026 elections.
“I think it's very important for the sake of the voters and for the sake of the smooth operation of not only the 2026 election, but future elections, that we have to figure this out,” she said.
The Recorder’s Office did not respond to a request for comment, but Heap previously accused the board of using its authority to interfere in the ongoing legal case.
“This is an apparent and naked attempt by the Board to intimidate and bully County Recorder staff, and unduly influence the pending court ruling, all while the Board continues to refuse to work in good faith with the Maricopa County Recorder's Office,” Heap said in a statement, referring to the subpoenas.
But board members claimed Heap has failed to answer a litany of questions about decisions he’s made since entering office in January 2025, like why the number of rejected mail-in ballots tripled in the last election or why he attempted to send mail-in ballots to people who didn’t request them in a special election last year in violation of state law.
What about the judge’s order?
After a brief court hearing on Tuesday, Blaney left his temporary order in place blocking Brophy McGee’s subpoenas and scheduled a hearing next week to hear the supervisor’s response to the allegations that they are intimidating witnesses.
“By no means have we been retaliating as witnesses or intending to do that,” Kory Langhofer, the board’s attorney, said in court.
In the meantime, Blaney reiterated a plea he has made several times in court, imploring Heap and the supervisors to settle their differences outside of the court room.
“Courts do not like stepping into political cases like this and placing themselves in between political elected officials, which is what's happening again here,” Blaney said.
Heap’s attorney James Rogers also filed a motion asking Blaney to block the board from compelling Heap to testify.
The judge had not acted on that request as the board’s vote, though the board’s attorney noted that Blaney did speak with lawyers from both sides about the issue.
“The judge's perspective on that question was Heap's a big boy. He's an elected official. You're elected officials. You're equals. You can work this out between yourselves,” Langhofer told the board.
What the board is asking for
The Republican-controlled board voted unanimously to require Heap to prepare a report and testify, citing a state law that allows boards of supervisors to “require any county officer to make reports under oath on any matter connected with the duties of his office.”
Specifically, the board is asking Heap to address a number of issues, including the voter disenfranchisement claims and the signature verification issues related to the higher-than-normal ballot rejection rate.
“So what I'm looking for in this vote is accountability to our taxpayers, accountability to our voters,” Brophy McGee said. “Our resources are limited, and we need the information. And we need the real information, the true information, not the contradictory information.”
The board is requiring Heap to deliver the report at its meeting on Feb. 18.
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