Video shows ballot scanner removal that sparked Maricopa County clash ahead of primary election

Newly released surveillance video shows a ballot scanner being removed from the Maricopa County election center in Phoenix in March.

 

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Officials with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors say two staffers from the recorder’s office took the scanner off-site in a personal truck on March 12.

The removal sparked a disagreement between the recorder’s office and the board-run Elections Department over which office has authority over the equipment.

The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office says it purchased the scanner and still controls it. Chief Deputy Recorder Jeff Mason filed a court declaration saying the recorder’s office bought the scanner and never transferred ownership to the Elections Department.

County supervisors dispute that.

Why the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors says it controls the ballot scanner

Board Chair Kate Brophy McGee and Vice Chair Debbie Lesko said the county’s Human Resources Department investigated the March 12 incident and found the scanner falls under the Board’s Elections Department.

Maricopa County Supervisor Thomas Galvin, who represents District 2, criticized the Recorder’s Office in a recent interview, noting that video of the incident shows staff removing the equipment in a non-county vehicle.

“They come out of the cage, then they come over and they take what is a scanning machine… they load it up into a pickup truck. That pickup truck does not have Maricopa County markings on it,” Galvin explained to KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Outspoken with Bruce and Gaydos Thursday. “Whatever Justin Heap’s excuses is, I’d like to hear it. Otherwise, he owes all the voters and his constituents a big-ass apology.”

Brophy McGee and Lesko said the scanner was returned about 50 minutes after it was removed, after the county elections director notified recorder’s office leadership.

They said they could not determine what was done to the scanner while it was gone, other than that it was taken to the recorder’s office executive offices.

Lesko and Brophy McGee said the board paid about $70,000 to replace the scanner because it may have been compromised after being removed from the tabulation center.

“It’s a hideous, I should say, a very disturbing chain of custody issue,” McGee told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Tuesday.

Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap says his office did nothing wrong

The dispute has now escalated with a criminal investigation and an emergency court filing by Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap.

In an emergency motion filed June 7 in Maricopa County Superior Court, Heap’s attorneys said the board referred recorder’s office staff for criminal investigation “for the act of attempting to retrieve the recorder’s office’s own property.”

Galvin noted that the Recorder’s Office refused to participate in the county’s internal HR investigation into the event, which eventually led to a referral to a special prosecutor.

“Perhaps if Justin Heap participated in the HR investigation, it never would’ve come this far,” Galvin said. “But this video today of Justin Heap’s employees walking out with a machine during a live election… you can’t argue with a video.”

The equipment issue is the latest twist in the long-running dispute between Heap’s office and the board over control of election duties that hasn’t been resolved, even with early voting for the July 21 primary set to begin June 24.

KTAR News 92.3 FM reached out to Justin Heap and the recorder’s office for comment.

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