{"id":1694,"date":"2026-06-09T04:07:43","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T04:07:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=1694"},"modified":"2026-06-09T04:07:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T04:07:43","slug":"maricopa-county-recorder-board-clash-over-election-equipment-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=1694","title":{"rendered":"Maricopa County recorder, board clash over election equipment investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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PHOENIX (AZFamily)<\/b> \u2014 A legal fight between the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and County Recorder Justin Heap is intensifying after allegations involving election equipment and a criminal investigation into Recorder\u2019s Office employees.<\/p>\n

Read more Sun Tran bus drivers overwhelmingly approve strike authorization<\/a><\/p>\n

Heap filed an emergency motion in Superior Court after he said armed sheriff\u2019s deputies went to the homes of multiple Recorder\u2019s Office employees and informed them they were under criminal investigation.<\/p>\n

According to a statement from Heap\u2019s office, the workers did nothing wrong and were trying to use equipment that belongs to the Recorder\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

In a direct response to the allegations, the Board of Supervisors disagreed, saying the equipment was controlled by the county Elections Department.<\/p>\n

Scanner dispute<\/h4>\n

According to a statement from the Board, the incident under investigation happened on March 12 while election results were being counted for the Tempe Jurisdictional Election.<\/p>\n

The Board alleged security cameras showed two Recorder\u2019s Office employees taking a pre-tabulation scanner from the Maricopa County Election and Tabulation Center, putting it in the back of an unmarked pickup truck and driving away.<\/p>\n

The employees reportedly brought the scanner back about 50 minutes later. Officials said it is not clear what happened to the scanner during that time.<\/p>\n

After that, Maricopa County Human Resources opened an internal review to see if any county rules were broken. The Board said the Recorder\u2019s Office did not take part in that review.<\/p>\n

As part of that review, officials said they found one employee had previously been told the scanner was controlled by the Elections Department.<\/p>\n

Investigators also found that the same employee removed what appeared to be several provisional ballot affidavit envelopes from a secure area of the tabulation center, according to the Board. Officials said those envelopes may have had live ballots inside, raising concerns about ballot security.<\/p>\n

Read more WATCH: Troopers use grappler to stop fleeing wrong-way driver in north Phoenix<\/a><\/p>\n

Investigators could not determine what happened to the envelopes while they were gone. However, officials said a count the following day found all ballots and envelopes were accounted for.<\/p>\n

The scanner was later replaced because county officials believed it had been compromised. The replacement cost about $70,000, according to the Board.<\/p>\n

Allegations of targeting<\/h4>\n

After the internal review, county leaders contacted the Maricopa County Attorney\u2019s Office for legal advice. The Board said MCAO reviewed the case and appointed an outside counsel to decide whether any crime had occurred.<\/p>\n

Heap called the investigation unfair and accused the Board of targeting his employees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe targeting of my staff is completely unacceptable,\u201d Heap said. \u201cNo public employee should fear being threatened with criminal investigation for attempting to carry out a court-ordered responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his emergency motion, Heap is asking the court to step in, order the return of disputed equipment, stop what he called retaliatory actions against Recorder\u2019s Office personnel and ensure compliance with prior court orders before the 2026 Primary Election.<\/p>\n

The first ballots are set to go out on June 24.<\/p>\n

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? <\/i>Please click here to report it<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send <\/i>it to us here<\/i> with a brief description.<\/i><\/p>\n

Read more Pima County won\u2019t handle case against former Tucson counselor accused of making child porn<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap is asking a judge to step in amid a criminal investigation into employees over disputed election equipment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nMaricopa County recorder, board clash over election equipment investigation - Tucson Moving Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tucsonmovingreport.com\/?p=1694\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Maricopa County recorder, board clash over election equipment investigation - 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