Maricopa Recorder warns board, election workers could face felony charges over drop boxes

The feud between the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and County Recorder Justin Heap escalated Wednesday, with the board accusing Heap of obstructing election preparations and Heap accusing the Board of staging “political theater.”

At the center of the dispute: a board resolution covering election day voting sites, emergency voting locations and ballot drop boxes for the 2026 election cycle.

Hours before the board’s afternoon meeting, Heap’s attorney, James Rogers, sent a letter warning that election workers who collect ballots from drop boxes not authorized by the recorder could face felony charges under Arizona’s ballot harvesting statute.

Rogers, who serves as senior counsel at the America First Legal Foundation, argued that Arizona’s election statutes vest the county recorder, and only the county recorder, with the power to establish early voting locations, making any drop boxes set up by the board during the early voting period unlawful.



https://ktar.com/arizona-election-news/justin-heap-felony-election-boxes/5868148/