{"id":15128215,"date":"2026-05-30T00:21:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T04:21:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/maricopa-county-recorder-asks-judge-to-hold-board-of-supervisors-in-civil-contempt-of-court\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T02:00:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T06:00:45","slug":"maricopa-county-recorder-asks-judge-to-hold-board-of-supervisors-in-civil-contempt-of-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/maricopa-county-recorder-asks-judge-to-hold-board-of-supervisors-in-civil-contempt-of-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Maricopa County recorder asks judge to hold board of supervisors in civil contempt of court"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Rep. Justin Heap on March 2, 2023. Photo by Gage Skidmore (modified) | Flickr<\/a>\/CC BY-SA 2.0<\/a><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap is asking a judge to hold the county\u2019s board of supervisors in civil contempt, escalating a longstanding and messy dispute over election control as the state primary creeps closer.<\/p>\n

Heap\u2019s filing<\/a> in Maricopa County Superior Court accuses supervisors of flouting an April 16 judgment<\/a> from the same bench that ordered them to return control of several election-related functions and information technology staffers to the recorder\u2019s office. He requested that the court compel the board to quickly adhere to the recent decision via a finding of contempt \u2014 and if supervisors then fail to comply, he asked that the court levy substantial fines and give the money to his office.<\/p>\n

It adds to a spiraling saga<\/a> that is amplifying concerns about how effectively top officials in the state\u2019s most populous county, a key swing jurisdiction, will be able to administer this year\u2019s midterm election.<\/p>\n

Heap has long contended that the board of supervisors usurped much of his power in a deal they struck with his predecessor months before he took office. He sued over the matter last year \u2014 and after months of back-and-forth in court, largely won the dispute.<\/p>\n

The board unsuccessfully moved to stay the April 16 ruling, arguing it was too close to the primary to implement the court\u2019s directives without risking a tumultuous election. Later, they filed for an appeal, which is still pending.<\/p>\n

But in the meantime, the county feud has escalated.<\/p>\n

During a recent local election, officials butted heads over how to communicate a new voting option at polling sites. Emails<\/a> show the recorder\u2019s office and the board\u2019s elections department disagreed over whether poll workers should verbally inform voters that they could opt to show identification at voting sites to have their mailed ballot counted faster.<\/p>\n

Then, another scuffle erupted last week<\/a> over ballot drop box locations for the upcoming primary. The majority-GOP board has set such sites for years under a provision of the state\u2019s election rulebook, and it planned to approve the locations at a May 20 meeting. But just before the supervisors met to do so, Heap, a Republican, sent a letter to the board citing state statutes that he said asserted his office\u2019s authority over ballot drop boxes. He also warned that election workers who handle ballots deposited in \u201cunauthorized\u201d receptacles could face criminal penalties.<\/p>\n

That drew strong condemnation from supervisors, a majority of whom are also Republican. One, Democratic Supervisor Steve Gallardo, accused Heap of attempting to sabotage election operations. Ultimately, the board unanimously approved a slate of voting locations \u2014 including the drop box sites<\/a> \u2014 for the July 21 primary.<\/p>\n

Heap cited both incidents in his filing as examples of \u201cthe board\u2019s ongoing usurpation of the recorder\u2019s authority.\u201d He added that the board also hasn\u2019t returned his office\u2019s IT team, which was integrated into a central IT office with the board\u2019s staff under the terms of the deal supervisors struck with the prior recorder \u2014 although supervisors recently voted to allocate money to the recorder\u2019s office to create new IT positions. And, he asserted that the board was on track to administer elections unlawfully, questioning whether election results might hold up in court unless supervisors were forced to comply with the April 16 judgement.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day of noncompliance is a day in which the board administers elections in a manner this court has declared unlawful \u2014 with the attendant risks to voter confidence and to the legal validity of the election results themselves,\u201d his lawyer wrote.<\/p>\n

Board Chair Kate Brophy McGee said in a statement that Heap\u2019s filing \u201cshould concern every Maricopa County voter.\u201d She added that Heap has refused to meet with the board to resolve \u201coutstanding issues\u201d related to administration of upcoming elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt every turn, Recorder Heap and his attorneys have sought confrontation rather than collaboration,\u201d she said. \u201cTo our dedicated elections staff and poll workers, I want to assure you we have your back. To Maricopa County voters, please know the board of supervisors remains committed to ensuring an elections process that is secure, transparent, accurate and conducted fully in accordance with federal and state law.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article was originally published<\/a> by Votebeat<\/a>, a nonprofit news organization covering local election administration and voting access.<\/em><\/p>\n

Source: News \u2013 World \u2013 Phoenix \u2013 rss.app2 \u2192 manual entry<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap is asking a judge to hold the county\u2019s board of supervisors in civil contempt, escalating a longstanding and messy dispute over election control as the state primary creeps closer. Heap\u2019s filing in Maricopa County Superior\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15128217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[136],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15128215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-phoenix"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15128215-justin-heap-gs-1024x576-1.jpg",1024,576,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15128215-justin-heap-gs-1024x576-1-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15128215-justin-heap-gs-1024x576-1-620x349.jpg",620,349,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15128215-justin-heap-gs-1024x576-1-768x432.jpg",768,432,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15128215-justin-heap-gs-1024x576-1-940x529.jpg",940,529,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15128215-justin-heap-gs-1024x576-1.jpg",1024,576,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15128215-justin-heap-gs-1024x576-1.jpg",1024,576,false],"post-thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15128215-justin-heap-gs-1024x576-1-998x576.jpg",998,576,true],"ignition_item":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15128215-justin-heap-gs-1024x576-1-670x446.jpg",670,446,true],"ignition_item_lg":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15128215-justin-heap-gs-1024x576-1.jpg",1024,576,false],"ignition_article_media":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15128215-justin-heap-gs-1024x576-1-510x510.jpg",510,510,true],"ignition_minicart_item":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15128215-justin-heap-gs-1024x576-1-160x160.jpg",160,160,true],"profile_24":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15128215-justin-heap-gs-1024x576-1-24x24.jpg",24,24,true],"profile_48":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15128215-justin-heap-gs-1024x576-1-48x48.jpg",48,48,true],"profile_96":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15128215-justin-heap-gs-1024x576-1-96x96.jpg",96,96,true],"profile_150":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15128215-justin-heap-gs-1024x576-1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"profile_300":["https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/15128215-justin-heap-gs-1024x576-1-300x300.jpg",300,300,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"news.iNthacity","author_link":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/author\/atombo\/"},"category_info":"Phoenix<\/a>","tag_info":"Phoenix","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15128215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15128215"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15128215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15128216,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15128215\/revisions\/15128216"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15128217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15128215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15128215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inthacity.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15128215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}