Justin Heap takes victory lap hours after settlement with Maricopa County board

APACHE JUNCTION — Just hours after a deal was finalized with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to end a yearlong battle over election duties, Recorder Justin Heap was in a packed bar with election-wary voters and Republican candidates.

The stage at the Hitching Post Saloon in Apache Junction, normally reserved for country bands, was lined with campaign signs and “We Support ICE” placards.

The Tuesday night event doubled as a victory lap for Heap.

“We have gotten what we wanted,” Heap told the crowd about the Board of Supervisors settlement. “This is a huge victory.”

What Justin Heap got in the negotiated agreement

The board voted 3-1 Tuesday to approve the deal. The county retains Election Day operations, tabulation and canvassing. The $20.1 million recorder’s funding includes $15 million for a new IT system and 24 new staff positions.

Heap sees the changes to his responsibility as overwhelming victory.

He said the settlement leaves him with more authority than any county recorder since Helen Purcell.

“We got a 110% of what we’ve been asking for from the start of this case,” James Rogers, the America First Legal attorney representing Heap said.

He represents Heap without charge.

 

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Rogers was also there as a candidate, running for the Legislature in District 10, which covers parts of Mesa to Apache Junction. After this legal win, he made his pitch to the crowd that, if elected, more election changes would follow.

“(I would be) the only election law expert in the Legislature,” Rogers said.

Lone dissenter asks why Heap walked away from his own victory

Supervisor Steve Gallardo, the board’s lone Democrat and only no vote, questioned why Heap would settle for less authority than the Supreme Court had just granted him.

The court’s July 7 ruling ordered the county to follow Heap’s 12-point plan for the primary, but Heap abandoned pieces of that plan in the negotiated settlement, Gallardo said.

“I see a staff that has no clue on what they’re doing, which partly reaffirms why they didn’t want the 12-point plan,” Gallardo said Tuesday during the board meeting. “They don’t know how to do it. They don’t want that responsibility.”

Republican excitement isn’t translating into early primary votes

A week before the primary, the enthusiasm in the honky tonk wasn’t translating to ballot returns, warned Pinal County Attorney Brad Miller, who hosted the get-out-the-vote event.

Republican turnout stands at about 14% in Pinal County and 16% in Maricopa County, Miller said. In 2022, nearly 40% of Republican voters cast a primary ballot in both counties.

“We are way behind,” the prosecutor said. “If we vote, we win.”

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