by Staff Reporter | Mar 4, 2026 | News
By Staff Reporter |
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and Recorder are at odds over plans to establish early voting locations.
Maricopa County Supervisor Mark Stewart, who has been an independent voice within the board, addressed two public concerns with this dispute in a press release issued on Monday.
The concerns relate to the delegation of early voting responsibilities under Arizona law, and the timeline for finalizing early voting locations, staffing, and logistics. Stewart disclosed that conversations between the board and recorder’s officer were underway, even with the very public back-and-forth between the two bodies.
“Regardless of the back-and-forth or expressed frustrations from the Recorder’s office and the Board Chair, we are making progress and working together. It may not be perfect, but it is happening,” said Stewart.
The final week of February marked a particularly fraught period in a long-standing dispute between the board and recorder over election duties. At the center of it all was the disputed existence of a spreadsheet containing alternative early voting locations.
Last week Recorder Justin Heap publicly disparaged the proposed early voting location sites delivered to him by the board. His criticisms accused the board of potentially disenfranchising voters, prompting an immediate response from Board Chair Kate Brophy McGee and Vice Chair Debbie Lesko. The pair said Heap had misinterpreted and failed to adequately review the materials given to him.
Heap disputed this narrative of his review. He accused the board of “lying to voters yet again,” in addition to demanding that he approve their early voting proposal.
According to Stewart’s press release from Monday, none of the early voting locations have been approved yet. The sites under discussion remain proposals.
Early voting locations were approved and released by mid-June during the 2024 election cycle.
This year, the election schedule is slightly more condensed. The governor and legislature approved a modification of the election dates to accommodate military and overseas voters.
Voter registration ends June 22, early voting begins June 24, and the primary election day is scheduled for the end of July.
Even with this adjusted timeline, Stewart says Heap has “ample time” to provide feedback on the proposed voting locations.
“We have a reasonable window of time to gather the Recorder’s feedback and a commitment to work collaboratively to refine location recommendations and ensure the selections are operationally sound and accessible to voters,” said Stewart.
While the rest of the supervisors have operated virtually in lockstep in their approach to the recorder, Stewart has generally taken a position independent of the rest of the board.
Lately, the supervisor is urging his colleagues to review the proposed early voting locations in an open public session to gather constituent input. Stewart advised he would be recommending a public discussion date in which Heap may participate.
“Voters deserve to see the decision-making process, understand the rationale behind site selection, and hear directly from both the Board and the Recorder,” said Stewart. “Transparency strengthens trust and improves outcomes.”
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by Matthew Holloway | Feb 27, 2026 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has sent a letter to Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap regarding preparations for in-person early voting for the upcoming July Primary Election, urging cooperation to ensure sufficient voting locations, staff, and equipment are in place.
In a joint statement dated Feb. 24, 2026, Board Chair Kate Brophy McGee and Vice Chair Debbie Lesko said the board delivered the letter to Recorder Heap now that his office “oversees that important function.”
The supervisors emphasized that “big decisions need to be made in short order” to guarantee that in-person early voting is adequately staffed and resourced for the 27-day early voting period prescribed by state law.
The letter requests that Heap provide the “same level of service that Maricopa County voters have come to expect in past years, when the Board oversaw in-person early voting.” The supervisors wrote that this includes a “large number of sites spread out evenly and fairly across our county” during the early voting period.
Brophy McGee and Lesko also asked whether the recorder would collaborate with the board’s elections department, which they described as “staffed, resourced, and experienced in this area.”
According to the Board’s Feb. 24 statement, the letter followed a court filing by Recorder Heap in which he indicated he was willing to cooperate on logistical issues. Supervisors also said they had sent a staff-level communication outlining key decisions that must be made to meet statutory deadlines.
The board approved a requested $550,000 budget increase for the Recorder’s Office, earmarked for signature verification efforts. “Signature verification is under the complete and total control of the recorder,” Brophy McGee stated in a press release on Wednesday regarding the $550,000 increase. “While we have questions about the recorder’s new process, we will proceed with the recorder’s budget requests to ensure sufficient resources are in place by the 2026 primary. Our top goal is fair and secure elections.”
The supervisors gave Heap until Friday to respond to the board’s letter so that preparations can proceed in advance of statutory deadlines for the July Primary. The statement concludes that if the recorder does not respond, the board will assume he can manage in-person early voting “without our help.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Matthew Holloway | Nov 9, 2024 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
On Tuesday, during the early hours of Election Day, American Majority Action (AMA) announced that with record numbers of early voters in the state of Arizona, it had exceeded 3.25 million voter contacts in its targeted voter group and conducted over 600,000 live conversations with them. In so doing, the group stated that it led the effort to encourage conservative voters to vote early.
Arizona Executive Director of American Majority Action Tracy DuCharme said in the statement:
“We focused our Arizona efforts on generating more absentee ballots and changing the voting behavior of low propensity conservative voters. We have been working with our partners to get more conservatives to vote absentee, whether through the mail or in person. We are having face-to-face conversations with voters at the doors, and through their phones with live calls and personal text messages.
Our absentee ballot generation plan was extremely successful and now 68.98% of conservatives who requested a ballot have returned them. We have engaged in nearly 3 million live contacts over phone calls, door knocks, and text messages with targeted voters. While they are tired of being bombarded through the airwaves, we have found people still appreciate personal conversations about the issues that face us all each day. We’re making a lasting impact on our state, one conversation at a time. I’m proud of the work AMA has done here in Arizona, and I know we’ll continue this mission for years to come.”
AMA credited the employment of advanced canvassing technology in its statement adding, “Face-to-face conversations are the highest form of voter engagement, and are shown to greatly increase election turnout. AMA’s activist groundswell is powered by Voter Gravity’s groundbreaking technology that allows staff to quickly and accurately get out the vote through micro-targeting voters.”
According to the Arizona Mirror, as Election Day voting commenced, 785,231 Republicans had already voted early for a turnout of 52.71% as compared to 643,450 Democrats and 466,140 independents.
Final voting data for the 2024 election is not yet available, however, President Donald Trump has been declared the winner of Arizona’s eleven electoral votes. And as of this report, in the race for the U.S. Senate, Democrat Rep. Ruben Gallego currently leads Kari Lake 1,381,684 votes to 1,348,362 votes.
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Warren Petersen | Oct 28, 2024 | Opinion
Arizona voters deserve to know election results within hours, not weeks. There’s one important step we can take to make this a reality.
By Warren Petersen |
We’re in the final stretch of the 2024 election cycle. In just a matter of days, we should know the outcome of races and issues on the ballot that are important to the lives and livelihoods of Americans and the Grand Canyon state.
The key word is “should.” Unfortunately, as recent history has shown us, receiving results on winners and losers may not happen in a timely fashion in our all-important swing state.
During the last several election cycles, Arizona was in the national spotlight with embarrassing headlines because of election issues. Citizens have been rightly frustrated over delayed results and day-of voting problems. However, we don’t have to perpetuate these narratives again come November. By voting early in-person, people can avoid day-of voting problems and know the final outcomes of races on election night, instead of weeks later.
If more people understood how votes are counted, they would probably change their voting behavior. The first batch of results appearing on T.V. screens at 8 p.m. on election night are the ballots that were dropped off, or mailed in, before 7 p.m. the Friday before election day. Then, from 9 p.m. until about midnight, results start coming in from people who voted in person on election day. If this was how everyone voted, we would likely know the results by midnight despite close races. But close races, and the phenomena known as “late earlies,” have thrown a wrench into the process and are prolonging results.
Arizona has been the epicenter for close races. In 2022, several races, with millions of votes cast, were decided by just a few hundred votes. These close races have not only made your vote more important than ever, but they have also created a situation where the winners of races cannot be determined until nearly every single vote is counted, and that takes quite a bit of time.
Many people don’t realize this, but if you drop off your early ballot on election day, which is also known as a “late early,” it does not get counted for days. When ballots are dropped off on election day, they must go through the signature verification process. If there are problems with your signature or ballot, then your ballot needs to be “cured.” The county has five days to cure a ballot, and if the county cannot reach you to cure your ballot within that time frame, then it does not get counted at all.
It can be frustrating that election officials have not been able to administer elections without this issue, but citizens can take action to avoid voting delays and election result delays. Vote early in person, Monday through Saturday, until election day. Some vote centers in Maricopa County are even open on Sundays. Early voting locations can be found at www.beballotready.vote.
Don’t let our elections drag on, and don’t let yourself become disenfranchised because of an issue with a ballot dropped off on election day. The future of our state and our nation are dependent on every single vote. The country is watching and waiting for our important swing state to get this right and to provide results in a timely manner.
Warren Petersen is the President of the Arizona State Senate and represents Legislative District 14. You can email him at wpetersen@azleg.gov.
by Daniel Stefanski | Oct 13, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
As early voting starts across Arizona, Republican and Democrat nominees for President, Vice President – and their surrogates – barnstormed the state to reach voters ahead of the pivotal contest.
Several major events are taking place across Arizona as the November General Election nears.
On Tuesday, Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff touched down in Arizona to rally voters for his wife, the Democrat nominee for President, Kamala Harris.
During Emhoff’s event, protestors made their views known about the Israel-Hamas War.
U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader Steve Scalise appeared with the Trump Campaign at a Phoenix rally to increase support for the Republican ticket.
On Wednesday, U.S. Senator J.D. Vance, the Republican Vice-Presidential nominee, stopped by the state, touching base with voters in Mesa and in Tucson.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, the Democrat Vice-Presidential nominee, also rallied supporters in Chandler and in Tucson on Wednesday.
Walz and Emhoff joined forces on Wednesday morning at a local cafe.
Harris was in Phoenix Thursday for a highly anticipated event.
The First Lady, Dr. Jill Biden, has announced plans to campaign for the Harris-Walz ticket over the weekend in the state.
Finally, Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee for President of the United States, has scheduled a rally for Prescott Valley on Sunday.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
