Maricopa County election fight could delay Arizona results nationwide

A court order issued April 16 changed how Maricopa County administers elections and could disrupt the rest of the 2026 election calendar. Maricopa County has about 4.5 million residents and roughly 60% of Arizona’s voters.

A 1955 agreement between the Board of Supervisors and the Recorder’s Office set the division of labor. Justin Heap says Maricopa operated for decades under a shared services arrangement in which the recorder handled all election responsibilities from 1985 to 2019. A 2019 agreement split duties so the recorder managed early voting while the board took charge of in-person voting and tabulation. Later updates in 2019, 2021 and 2023 kept that structure in place.

Heap, elected in November 2024 and sworn in on January 1, 2025, says everything changed with an October 18, 2024 agreement signed by outgoing Recorder Stephen Richer and a lame-duck board majority. The deal, which took effect on December 10, 2024, transferred nearly all election duties to the board, cut $5 million from the recorder’s budget, reassigned 39 staff members and left the recorder without its own IT staff. The county disputes Heap’s account and says the parties negotiated in good faith.

The clash became open legal action on June 12, 2025, when Heap sued the Board of Supervisors to reclaim election authority and retained America First Legal, the group founded by Stephen Miller, to represent him. Board leaders Thomas Galvin and Vice Chair Kate Brophy McGee called the suit “absurd” and said Heap did not understand the statutory checks and balances built into Arizona election law. Heap countered that the board was limiting his ability to do his job and running a misinformation campaign.

Maricopa County said the April 16 court order made major changes in election administration and could disrupt remaining elections, and the county listed an emergency stay from the Arizona Court of Appeals on June 18. A mid-2026 Arizona Supreme Court ruling sided with Heap before the primary. Election officials warned in 2024 it could take as long as 13 days to tabulate all ballots, and the county became central to Donald Trump’s election conspiracy narrative after 2020.