After months of unsuccessfully attempting to recover key parts of his office back from the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (MCBOS), Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap, who was elected on an election integrity platform last year, filed a lawsuit against the MCBOS. Represented by America First Legal (AFL), he demanded back control over early voting, ballot drop boxes, his IT department, and the ability to speed up ballot tabulation, areas that were negotiated away from him last fall by previous recorder Stephen Richer, an election fraud denier.
“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,” Heap said in a statement. “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.”
Maricopa County Supervisor Debbie Lesko responded to Heap on X, “@azjustinheap, stop wasting taxpayer $ on lawyers and sit down and negotiate!”
EZAZ Co-President Merissa Hamilton, who has been heavily involved with the tussle, responded to Lesko, placing the blame on MCBOS Chair Thomas Galvin. “Respectfully, @DebbieLesko!” she said. “If you read the lawsuit, you’ll see that @azjustinheap tried, and you and the rest of the BOS ignored his offers. Maybe your staffers aren’t doing their jobs??? Take it up with @ThomasGalvin, whom you keep rubber-stamping to be a tyrant! He caused this issue!”
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