In an email obtained from Maricopa County Board of Supervisor District 4 Debbie Lesko, Lesko claims that Recorder Justin Heap has not responded to her requests for what he needs in writing. Lesko states, “I have met and talked with him several times and have asked him to submit to me, in writing, exactly what he wants. So far, I have not received that.” Lesko repeats this at the end of her letter, seeming to indicate that Heap is not cooperating with her efforts saying, “I have met and talked with Justin multiple times and have asked him to submit, in writing, exactly what he wants. It is important that we work together.”
This is a large departure what from Heap’s close ally and fellow Freedom Caucus member, Senator Jake Hoffman stated just last week in a public X post saying “ELECTION INTEGRITY ALERT Corruption in Maricopa County! Supervisor @ThomasGalvin has STRIPPED Recorder @azJustinHeap of his control over our Elections and is REFUSING to reinstate it Email & Call him now! Thomas.Galvin@maricopa.gov (602) 506-7431″ Hoffman went on to claim “@ThomasGalvin as the Chair of the Board of Supervisors is: Refusing to give Heap his full budget, Refusing to give Heap back his staff, Refusing to give Heap back his IT Department, Refused to give Heap access to key County buildings where the Recorder’s staff works, Refused to approve Heap’s Deputy Recorder pick.”
See the full Lesko letter below:
“Thank you for contacting me about Recorder Justin Heap. It is great to hear from you! I know this email is a little long, but I ask that you read the entire email to get a better understanding. It is an honor to serve as District 4 supervisor, after serving in the U.S. Congress and the Arizona State Legislature. It was also an honor that President Trump picked me as one of only eight U.S. Congress members to serve on his impeachment defense team. I voted for Justin Heap in both the primary and general election.
Since then, I have met and talked with him several times and have asked him to submit to me, in writing, exactly what he wants. So far, I have not received that. I have told Justin from the beginning I want to work with him and will continue to work with him. One of my highest priorities as your County Supervisor is election integrity. That is why on my first day in office I announced that I am pushing for a comprehensive election audit. We are currently working on the scope of the audit so that after board approval, we can put it out for bid. Election functions in Maricopa County are divided between the county recorder and the elections department. Roughly speaking, the recorder’s office handles all voter registrations, maintaining the voter rolls, mailing out ballots and signature verification. The Elections department handles all in-person voting and tabulation of the ballots. The Board of Supervisors is responsible for certifying the elections. In October 2024, prior to me entering office and prior to anyone knowing if Justin Heap or the Democrat candidate would win the election, the previous board of supervisors renegotiated with the former recorder what is called a shared services agreement that makes clear the election duties of the recorder vs. the elections department. State law often makes clear the different duties, but sometimes it’s vague; thus, this agreement clarifies the duties. In this Oct. 2024 agreement, two things of significance changed: 1. The election-related IT operation was moved under the Maricopa County-wide IT system. Prior to that, the elections department had to submit work order requests to the recorder, even though the election department uses roughly 80% of the IT operation and, at least on one occasion, the former recorder’s office threatened to cut off IT access to the elections department. 2. During major elections, ballot processors are hired. They are bipartisan teams that open the mail-in ballot envelopes, take the ballots out of the envelopes and make sure that the number on the outside of the envelope corresponds with the number on the ballot before the ballots are tabulated. This function was moved to the elections department. Since the elections department is responsible for tabulating the ballots, they wanted to make sure that they got the ballots in a timely fashion. As an example, during the last election, the recorder’s office was slow turning over the ballots for tabulating, likely because they didn’t hire enough ballot processors. Justin Heap still has full control and authority over: •Voter registration •Maintaining the voter rolls •Mailing out the mail-in ballots •Verifying the ballot signatures
As I said above, I have met and talked with Justin multiple times and have asked him to submit, in writing, exactly what he wants. It is important that we work together. Please feel free to reach out to me any time. I love hearing from you.
Supervisor Debbie Lesko District 4 Board of Supervisors
O: 602-506-7642″