Maricopa County supervisors and recorder agree to settlement to resolve election fight

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and Recorder Justin Heap have agreed to a settlement to resolve their dispute over control of the county’s elections, which has dragged on for over a year.

The supervisors approved a deal on Tuesday that largely preserves the status quo when it comes to which office controls different election responsibilities. The deal gives the Recorder’s Office control of early voting operations while keeping the Maricopa County Elections Department, which is overseen by the supervisors, in charge of Election Day and emergency voting.

Heap already signed off on the agreement, County Manager Jen Pokorski said.

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Board of Supervisors Chair Kate Brophy McGee expressed relief, saying the deal provides certainty for voters and the poll workers who help run election sites across the county.

“This agreement lets us do what I have wanted to do since I took office: make Maricopa County boring again — have elections that nobody worries about, has anxiety attacks about, has to ask about, but make sure that their vote is counted,” Brophy McGee said.

Early voting is already underway in the July 21 primary and the new agreement shouldn’t affect those operations.

Under the deal, the board and recorder will operate under an interim election plan for the primary approved by the Arizona Supreme Court earlier this month, which included multiple safeguards to avoid disrupting the ongoing election.

That plan actually hands more responsibility to the recorder than the settlement, which will govern future elections, including the November general election.

Heap did not respond to a request for comment.

The settlement comes more than a year after Heap filed a lawsuit accusing the board of illegally taking away responsibilities given to his office under state law, which divides election powers between county recorders and boards of supervisors.

Heap won a string of legal victories over the past 12 months, including a ruling that found the board illegally took away the recorder’s IT staff and systems. The Arizona Supreme Court mostly upheld that ruling earlier this month and adopted an interim election plan proposed by Heap’s attorney to divide up duties in the ongoing primary election.

As part of the new deal, the board will transfer up to $21 million in existing county funds to the recorder. Some of that money will go toward purchasing equipment and hiring more IT and early voting staff to comply with the settlement.

Around $15 million will be used to build new IT systems for the recorder rather than split the shared voter database currently used by both the Elections Department and the Recorder’s Office.

“And until the recorder deploys his new system, he gets to keep using the old system,” Kory Langhofer, the board’s attorney, said. “As long as that happens, as long as you're using the old one jointly, you'll co-own that.”

Under the settlement agreement, the Recorder’s Office will keep control of undisputed responsibilities, like voter registration, signature verification and sending early ballots. It will also control nearly every other facet of early voting, from training election workers to picking early voting sites.

Notably, the supervisors will keep control of early election boards, bipartisan teams that process early ballots. The supervisors initially took that responsibility back in a deal with former Recorder Stephen Richer in 2024 that precipitated Heap’s lawsuit — the same deal the supervisors used to take away the recorder’s IT staff.

The supervisors will also continue to control Election Day and emergency voting.

The Elections Department, under the Board of Supervisors, will also continue to be responsible for counting all ballots.

In fighting Heap’s lawsuit, the board majority had argued that the recorder’s demands ran contrary to state law and would create chaos and uncertainty for voters and election workers.

The settlement addressed those concerns for most of the supervisors.

“It's not perfect, but overall it provides certainty for how we move forward in running elections, and I'm all about moving forward,” said Supervisor Thomas Galvin, one of Heap’s fiercest critics.

Only Supervisor Steve Gallardo, the board’s lone Democrat, voted against the deal.

He cited concerns about Heap’s decision to hire hyper-partisan staff to man his office and the recorder’s alliance with America First Legal, the law firm founded by Trump adviser Stephen Miller that represented the recorder in the litigation.

“So how can folks in Maricopa County have faith in this recorder and his staff that they're not going to put their thumb on the scale when it comes to conducting our election, that we're going to have fair, transparent elections?” Gallardo said.

Supervisor Mark Stewart, a Republican, missed the vote due to illness.

The supervisors credited Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Christopher Coury with pushing the deal across the finish line.

Coury stepped in as a mediator in June in a last-ditch effort to resolve the ongoing dispute.

“I really believe Judge Coury went above and beyond staying till late last night to try to get this done,” Board Vice Chair Debbie Lesko said, noting the agreement came together late on Monday night following three days of mediation.

Under the settlement, Coury will continue to serve as a “special master,” responsible for mediating any future disputes.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney, who oversaw the lawsuit, must still sign off on the settlement.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The story has been updated to correct what the Elections Department, under the Board of Supervisors, will continue to be responsible for. Also, the supervisors initially took on the responsibility of control of early election boards from former Recorder Stephen Richer in 2024.