Surveillance footage shows election equipment being wheeled out of a Maricopa County facility in Phoenix in March 2026, by staff members of county recorder Justin Heap.
‘This is chaos’: Maricopa County election-denier official accused of seizing election equipment, ballots
June 9, 2026 : https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/maricopa-county-supervisor-board-recorder-justin-heap-election-machines-ballot/
Local officials in Arizona’s Maricopa County have accused county recorder Justin Heap’s office of improperly seizing election equipment and documents as votes were being counted in local elections earlier this year.
In taking the equipment and files, Heap’s office set off “grave chain-of-custody concerns” and forced the county to purchase new equipment, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors said in a press release Monday.
In the county’s press release, Board Chair Kate Brophy McGee, a Republican, and Board Vice Chair Debbie Lesko, another Republican, said security cameras in March recorded staff from Heap’s office removing a scanner from a secure election site without permission.
Besides the scanner, which the board said it controlled, Heap’s office also took provisional ballot envelopes, some of which may have contained live ballots for municipal elections in Tempe, Arizona.
h/t Lunatic Cultist