Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap, who was elected to office in late 2024 on an election integrity platform, sent a letter to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (MCBOS) on Thursday accusing their plan for early voting locations of “fail[ing] to adequately protect voters.”
Heap said, “I have serious concerns that the proposed early voting plan you provided makes voting inconvenient and inaccessible for a large number of Maricopa County voters, threatening the ability of working families, those with childcare responsibilities, those with physical impairments, the elderly, and others to participate in our elections.” He said the MCBOS showed him their plan only a few days before asking him to approve it.
Heap said smaller communities were allotted numerous voting locations, whereas larger communities were provided as little as one location. While Tempe has about 180,000 residents, it is slated to receive three early voting sites. Mesa, which has approximately 500,000 residents, has only one site, which is “in the extreme southeast corner of that city,” he said, so inconvenient for many voters.
Mesa trends Republican, while Tempe trends Democratic. Tempe has 32,462 active Democratic voters versus 21,301 active Republicans. Mesa has 69,153 active Democrats versus 110,615 active Republicans.
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