{"id":128,"date":"2026-05-21T04:07:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T04:07:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phoenixrelocationnews.com\/?p=128"},"modified":"2026-05-21T04:07:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T04:07:47","slug":"supervisors-blast-heap-for-felony-threat-before-routine-drop-box-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/phoenixrelocationnews.com\/?p=128","title":{"rendered":"Supervisors blast Heap for \u2018felony\u2019 threat before routine drop box vote"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

In an ominous letter to the county board, the Maricopa County Recorder\u2019s attorney suggested on Wednesday that election employees could face \u201ccriminal exposure\u201d \u2014 potentially including jail time \u2014 if the board approved the use and locations of voting drop boxes.<\/p>\n

Read more Arizona executes Leroy McGill, convicted murderer and arsonist<\/a><\/p>\n

That came as news to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, who had a seemingly routine resolution before them to do just that. Members of the board sized up the letter, righteously ripped into County Recorder Justin Heap and unanimously passed the resolution before them, 5-0.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is purposely trying to corrupt this election,\u201d said Steve Gallardo, the lone Democrat among the five county supervisors. \u201cHe never intended to make sure our elections were safe, secure, transparent.\u201d<\/p>\n

The drama was just the latest, if perhaps most tense, showdown between the two offices most directly responsible for running elections in Maricopa County, the country\u2019s fourth-largest voting district. Since entering office last year, Heap, a MAGA Republican, has persistently stirred up hostilities with the Republican-majority Board of Supervisors.<\/p>\n

The board members voted on a resolution to authorize the use and locations of voting centers, emergency vote centers and secure drop boxes for the upcoming July 21 primary election. It\u2019s a procedural move required by state statute ahead of every election.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the vote, Kate Brophy McGee, the board chair, revealed that this meeting would hold more sizzle than usual.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, Mr. Heap\u2019s attorney wrote to say if we accept ballots from voters the way we always have,\u201d she said, \u201cwe and our staff will be prosecuted.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Brophy McGee was referencing a letter from James Rogers, Heap\u2019s attorney. In the letter, sent Wednesday morning, Rogers argues that the Board doesn\u2019t have the authority to \u201cestablish and maintain drop boxes for the deposit of early ballots during the early voting period.\u201d Rogers maintains that only Heap has the authority to establish drop boxes during early voting and that those ballots can only be delivered to Heap.<\/p>\n

Rogers cited the Arizona Revised Statutes to argue that Board members and \u201cany employees who participate in establishing or staffing unauthorized drop boxes\u201d could face criminal exposure, which would be a class 5 felony \u2014 which the Arizona Revised Statutes say carry up to two and a half years in prison. Rogers added that a Board employee who collects ballots at drop boxes without the Recorder\u2019s authority could be charged with a class 6 felony, which carries up to two years in prison.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are serious felonies,\u201d Rogers wrote in the letter. \u201cThe Board should not proceed with a resolution that exposes its members and employees to criminal prosecution simply because it wishes to assert control over a function that the Legislature has assigned to the Recorder.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Phoenix New Times reached out to the Maricopa County Attorney\u2019s Office about this threat and whether the office would consider such charges if referred. Spokesperson Erin Pellett noted that Rogers has \u201cno prosecutorial authority\u201d and said beyond that, the office has no comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more ASU president wants his Gaza protester lawsuit deposition kept hidden<\/a><\/p>\n

For almost a year now, Heap\u2019s office and the board of supervisors have been arguing over who oversees parts of the county\u2019s election system under a document called a Shared Services Agreement. Last month a county judge ruled that the county board illegally removed the information technology staff from the recorder\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the vote on Wednesday, four members of the Board slammed the letter for, in Brophy McGee\u2019s words, \u201cthreatening to criminally charge employees for doing their duties.\u201d She said she asked Heap to attend the meeting to testify that afternoon, but he didn\u2019t show. Vice Chair Debbie Lesko said the recorder\u2019s office could refer county election employees, including temporary election workers, for criminal charges for \u201cmerely doing their job.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Supervisor Thomas Galvin denounced Heap for \u201ccooking up more games\u201d and said that \u201cif anyone tries to put handcuffs on those volunteers, the four of us will be the first ones to step in front of them and say, \u2018Take us.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Gallardo slammed Heap as \u201ctotally out-of-touch\u201d and \u201cincompetent.\u201d Heap has surrounded himself with \u201cpolitical hacks,\u201d Gallardo continued, and \u201cwants the 2026 election to fail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only Mark Stewart, a Republican supervisor who has become a lone wolf on the board for his abiding support of Heap, didn\u2019t condemn the letter. He did admit the letter is \u201crough\u201d and \u201csomewhat egregious,\u201d but criticized Brophy McGee for not reaching out directly to Heap about this further in advance, adding that the letter could have been prevented with \u201ca simple phone call.\u201d<\/p>\n

He introduced a motion to allow Heap 10 days to make any changes to the election drop box list. It didn\u2019t receive a second and failed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish a simple phone call would have solved it,\u201d Lesko said, sounding exasperated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the meeting, election staff made it clear that for months they had been in ongoing discussions with the recorder\u2019s office about the vote centers and the resolution. After the meeting, Heap\u2019s office issued a statement saying it was \u201cnever consulted on the proposed drop box locations\u201d and \u201conly learned of them after the Board publicly posted its agenda yesterday.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The statement quoted Heap: \u201cVoters deserve lawful, professional election administration, not political gamesmanship and last-minute public ambushes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Phoenix sees progress, but Valley\u2019s homeless population still sky high<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Maricopa County recorder’s lawyer warned that election workers could face prosecution. County supervisors were thoroughly unconvinced.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nSupervisors blast Heap for \u2018felony\u2019 threat before routine drop box vote - Phoenix Relocation News<\/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:\/\/phoenixrelocationnews.com\/?p=128\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Supervisors blast Heap for \u2018felony\u2019 threat before routine drop box vote - Phoenix Relocation News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Maricopa County recorder's lawyer warned that election workers could face prosecution. 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