Judge sides with Arizona election official in ruling that has implications for midterms voting

PHOENIX — The top election official in Arizona’s most populous county will get more authority to run the election after a judge sided with his office in a protracted legal battle with the local board that shares responsibility for overseeing voting.

The decision could have broad implications in one of the nation’s most important states, which will host several high-profile races this fall. Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, has been plagued by election conspiracy theorists since President Donald Trump lost the state to Democrat Joe Biden in his 2020 re-election bid.

Justin Heap, Maricopa County’s Republican clerk, sued the county’s predominantly Republican Board of Supervisors last summer, alleging it illegally took control of certain aspects of election administration. Heap claimed the board moved funds, IT staff and some key functions — including running ballot boxes and setting up early voting sites — out of his office through a deal negotiated with his predecessor, whom he recently defeated in a Republican primary.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney largely sided with Heap’s office in his ruling, which was filed Thursday but was made public Friday. The oversight board “acted illegally and exceeded its legal authority by seizing the Recorder’s personnel, systems and equipment and refusing to return them” to the Recorder, he wrote.

Blaney also ruled that the registrar’s office is responsible for overseeing in-person early voting, among other duties, while the board is responsible for other operations, such as selecting polling locations on Election Day, providing polling locations and hiring election workers.

“The Board’s assertion of plenary authority over the administration of elections through its general supervisory powers is inconsistent with Arizona law,” the judge wrote.

Board President Kate Brophy McGee said the board would consider an appeal.

“I disagree with other parts of the decision and will explore all options with the Board of Supervisors, including an expedited appeal,” McGee, a Republican, said in a statement. “From day one, the Board of Supervisors has provided Recorder Heap with the resources and personnel necessary to fulfill its statutory duties. We will continue to do so because voters always come first.”

In a statement, Heap hailed the decision as a “clear and decisive victory for the rule of law and for the voters of Maricopa County.”

“The court confirmed that the Board cannot override state law, use funding as leverage, or take control of the election duties assigned to the Recorder,” Heap said. “This decision restores both the authority and resources my office needs to do its job.”

Heap, a former Republican state lawmaker, was elected in 2024 after unseating incumbent Stephen Richer in the GOP primary and defeating a Democratic candidate in the general election. In the past, Heap has stopped short of repeating false claims that the 2020 and 2022 elections were stolen, but has said voters don’t trust the state’s election system and that it is mismanaged.

False allegations of fraud since the 2020 presidential election have led to threats of violence against Richer and other members of the Maricopa County elections office. Richer blamed Heap for contributing to an atmosphere of distrust and vitriol toward the office.

“He dealt with the really ugly things that people in that office had to go through,” Richer said of Heap, in an interview last month. “And he allied himself with people who were in the eye of the storm when it came to his creation.”

Once he took office, Heap terminated an earlier agreement between Richer and the board that had revised how election operations were divided between the two offices. Heap filed the lawsuit with the support of America First Legal, a conservative public interest group founded by Stephen Miller, now deputy chief of staff at the White House.