Equipment Dispute Escalates in Maricopa County
The contentious issue of equipment ownership between the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office and the Board of Supervisors has intensified, with accusations of unauthorized removal and counterclaims of rightful possession. This dispute, centered on election equipment, comes amid an already fraught relationship between the two entities.
County Recorder Justin Heap claims that the county attorney and election staff are thwarting his office’s efforts to take charge of equipment he asserts belongs to the Recorder’s Office. However, budget documents suggest the equipment is under the purview of the Elections Department.
An urgent court filing by Heap’s attorney, James Rogers, disclosed that Pinal County sheriff deputies unexpectedly visited the home of Bryan Colby, the Chief Information Officer of the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office (MCRO). According to the filing, deputies informed Colby of an investigation into alleged theft.
Supervisors Kate Brophy McGee and Debbie Lesko stated that security footage from a March election in Tempe showed Colby and another employee transporting a scanner out of the county’s central processing facility. They returned with the equipment about 50 minutes later, after an alert from the county Elections director.
The Board of Supervisors has since replaced the scanner at a cost of $70,000, citing its compromise. Additionally, a county Human Resources investigation revealed Colby also removed some provisional ballot affidavit envelopes from a secure area, though all ballots were later accounted for.
Following these findings, county leadership sought legal guidance. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office acknowledged receiving an allegation but delegated the case to a special counsel due to a conflict of interest. The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office, according to spokesman Samuel Salzwedel, is not directly involved, though an off-duty reserve deputy was hired by the special counsel.
Ownership Controversy
Heap contends the disputed scanners were procured using funds from the Recorder’s Office, intended specifically for Early Voting Services. Rogers, representing Heap, asserted, “What Mr. Colby is apparently accused of doing would have been entirely lawful: attempting to retrieve equipment belonging to the Recorder’s Office.”
Contrarily, the Board of Supervisors maintains the equipment is property of the Elections Department. Maricopa County’s budget indicates that $116,376 was allocated for election envelope scanners by the Elections Department. Stephen Richer, the then-County Recorder, did not mention these scanners during budget discussions.
Underlying Allegations
While Rogers stops short of admitting any improper action by Colby, he notes that Recorder’s Office staff were searching for the devices to repurpose them following the board’s denial of a request for an Agilis ballot sorting machine. Heap had sought the machine to help manage provisional ballots.
“Faced with the Board’s refusal to authorize the purchase of the Agilis machine, the MCRO had been investigating whether the two ImageTrac DS 1210 scanners the Recorder already owned could be repurposed to solve the same problem,” Rogers wrote, suggesting responsible public service rather than criminal conduct.
Heap has accused the board of retaliation following a legal victory in an ongoing dispute over election control. He is seeking a court order to compel the board to surrender the scanners and halt any criminal investigation into his staff.
This confrontation is the latest in a series of conflicts between Heap and the supervisors, who have yet to effectively collaborate since Heap’s election in 2024. As tensions remain high, early voting for the July 21 primary elections is set to commence at the end of June.
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