The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (MCBOS) held a special meeting on Wednesday, Feb 18th, to address an ongoing dispute with Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap. The dispute began when Heap took office in January 2025, discovering that the previous MCBOS and outgoing recorder Stephen Richer had negotiated a month earlier to turn over much of his office to the MCBOS.
The Shared Services Agreement signed on December 10, 2024, gave the MCBOS control over in-person early voting administration, election-related IT services (including voter roll maintenance), inbound receipt/processing of early ballots, pre-tabulation and more.
Heap attempted to regain control of those parts of his office, but was unsuccessful, so he sued the MCBOS last June.
The special meeting was called to address the conflict and request information from Heap. Supervisor Kate Brophy McGee, chair of the MCBOS, said that Supervisor Mark Stewart obtained his own separate legal counsel for the litigation between the board and Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap, instead of sharing counsel with the other members of the MCBOS. Stewart has been the only supervisor in favor of rescinding the SSA and giving Heap his duties back.
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