Adrian Fontes calls for ‘cooler heads’ as Maricopa County scanner feud goes to special prosecutor

Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes is urging local officials to tone down the rhetoric as a bitter feud over a removed ballot scanner intensifies between Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap and the Board of Supervisors.

Earlier this week surveillance footage from March 12 was released, showing two recorder’s office employees wheeling a ballot scanner from the Maricopa County Election & Tabulation Center, loading it into an unmarked pickup truck and driving away during an ongoing Tempe election. 

While county supervisors and local leaders have leveled sharp criticism at the recorder’s office, Fontes is preaching patience until a full investigation can sort out the facts.

“The number one job of elections officials as I see it is to make sure that we do everything we can to ensure that folks are confident in our elections processes,” Fontes told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Outspoken with Bruce & Gaydos on Friday.

Fontes, who previously served as Maricopa County Recorder, noted that rigorous protocols have historically been standard practice in the department.

“When I was recorder, when Helen Purcell preceded me (and) when Stephen Richer was after me. We had kind of checks and balances and receipts and all kinds of stuff along the way,” Fontes said. “I’m not saying that this recorder does not, but I think before we really pass judgment, we got to figure out exactly what the function of that particular scanner was. If it didn’t have anything to do with elections, which is possible, then perhaps this is completely innocuous and it’s no big deal.”

Recorder and Board of Supervisors both claim ballot scanner ownership

The Board of Supervisors claims the machine belonged to the board-run Elections Department and was compromised by its 50-minute removal, forcing the county to spend approximately $70,000 on a replacement. Heap’s office counter-argued that the scanner was purchased entirely with recorder’s office funds, was in storage rather than active use and that the employees only used it to test barcodes using voided ballots.

The incident sparked a human resources investigation that has since been referred to a special prosecutor to determine if criminal activity occurred. Fontes said that determining the intent behind the equipment’s movement is critical.

“But if it did, then the questions become why were they moving it?” Fontes said. “And I hope that a thorough investigation will follow because cooler heads have to prevail. We owe it to the voting public in Arizona to continue to bolster the confidence that they should have because of all of the lies and misinformation that surround this activity of our governance at the state and local level.”

Drawing on his own experience heading the recorder’s office, Fontes recalled times when moving tabulation equipment off-site was routine for civic outreach under previous systems.

“A couple of times when we were doing participatory budgeting exercises at high schools, we would take ballot scanners to high schools across the county and let them run those elections,” Fontes said. “This is under the old system before we put the new one in place after 2018.”

Adrian Fontes does not believe feud will impact primary election

Despite the escalating dispute and the looming July primary election, Fontes maintained that the state’s rigorous testing ensures the ultimate accuracy of the vote tabulation.

“We have preset ballots that we run through all of the tabulation systems, which we don’t think that this particular piece of equipment was part of that,” Fontes explained. “And those tabulation systems have to look at those pre-marked ballots and come out with the exact number that we’ve brought in so they can pass the test. And we do this before every election here in Arizona. So, we’re still functioning under the same processes and procedures we have. I think folks can have confidence in the election systems.”

He also emphasized that the ongoing criminal probe and the legal finger-pointing will not destabilize the upcoming vote.

“This particular incident, however, I think should be thoroughly investigated and if some problem did arise in March, I’m confident that we’re going to have no impact on … the primary that will be happening here in July,” Fontes said.

While both sides are scheduled to face off in Maricopa County Superior Court on Monday regarding separate motions for a temporary restraining order and contempt of court, the state’s top election official is keeping his distance from the localized brawl.

“As the Secretary of State, we are not involved in that,” Fontes said. “We believe that cooler heads will prevail. We are not taking sides. This is an intra-county issue between the recorder and the board.”

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