By Staff Reporter |
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and Recorder are at an apparent impasse in resolving the ongoing conflict over the recorder’s election powers.
Historically, Maricopa County officials interpreted state law governing election functions at the county level to authorize the recorder with full responsibility over elections through a Shared Services Agreement (SSA). Changes made in recent years, especially those made last year, are the source of serious conflict between Recorder Justin Heap and the board of supervisors.
For over 30 years, county supervisors and the recorder abided by an SSA which granted the recorder all election responsibilities. In 2019, the board and former recorder (now secretary of state) Adrian Fontes lessened the recorder’s responsibilities by having the recorder’s office handle early voting while the board managed in-person voting and tabulation.
Then, last October, the outgoing recorder Stephen Richer and board supervisors entered a new SSA. In a press release on Monday, Heap claimed that the new SSA further reduced the election-related responsibilities of the recorder’s office to signature verification only and reassigned a significant portion of the recorder’s budgeting and staffing to the board.
Heap announced that he submitted a letter to the supervisors claiming the new SSA was “not binding or enforceable,” referencing a consultation with the county attorney’s office.
Heap characterized the ongoing negotiations over the SSA as a “battle” beset by “rising public outrage” and “misinformation” in his press release.
“Stephen Richer’s parting gift to the voters of Maricopa County, after suffering an embarrassing primary election defeat, was a punitive backroom agreement with the lame-duck Board majority designed to hamstring the office of the Recorder,” said Heap. “For weeks, since before being sworn into office, I’ve sought reasonable, common-sense solutions with my fellow Republicans on the Board, only to be ignored. Maricopa County elections need a practical, workable SSA to ensure efficient, accurate elections; however, the Supervisors’ refusal to engage in honest dialogue risks a crisis in our upcoming elections.”
Heap requested the board revert election-related authorities under provisions similar to those outlined in the 2021 SSA, and restore his authority over early voting. Heap threatened legal action if his demands weren’t met.
In response to Heap’s press release, the county posted a slightly different breakdown of election responsibilities between Heap’s office and the supervisors that evening.
In the board of supervisor’s version of the SSA breakdown, recorder responsibilities consist of maintaining the voter registration database, preparing ballots and envelopes for voters, mailing early ballots to voters, receiving early ballots sent by USPS, managing in-bound envelope scanning, overseeing signature verification and curing of questionable signatures, sending and receiving UOCAVA ballots, administering Special Election Boards, and researching and curing all provisional ballots.
Supervisor election-related duties consist of managing candidate services and ballot-building; coordinating in-person voting for early, emergency, and Election Day voting; picking up ballots from early voting sites and drop boxes and providing to the recorder for in-bound envelope scanning; hiring and training election workers at the tabulation center and poll workers to support in-person voting; approving and managing operations of vote centers for early, emergency, and Election Day voting; processing ballots (removal of ballots from affidavit envelopes); tabulating all ballots (provisional, early, Election Day); canvassing of election results; and conducting recounts as ordered by statute.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Thomas Galvin also issued a statement describing Heap’s account of recorder responsibilities and ongoing negotiations with the board as factually inaccurate.
“Conversations between the Board and its staff, and the Recorder and his staff, have been happening for weeks. Despite the factual errors in Recorder Heap’s statement, I don’t view this as a ‘battle,’” said Galvin. “Shared service agreements in Maricopa County are frequently renegotiated, each time in consultation with our attorneys to ensure compliance with state law.
My colleagues and I happily look forward to further and continued dialogue to ensure a new SSA aligns with Arizona law and best practices in election administration.”
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