Overview
- County camera footage from March shows two Recorder’s Office employees moving a pre-tabulation ImageTrac scanner out of the Maricopa County Election and Tabulation Center and returning it about 50 minutes later, prompting a human resources review.
- Human resources investigators found provisional ballot affidavit envelopes were also removed from a secure area but said a next-day count showed all ballots and envelopes were accounted for.
- Recorder Justin Heap filed an emergency court motion asking a judge to order the return of two ImageTrac scanners and to bar the Board of Supervisors from initiating or participating in criminal investigations of Recorder staff.
- The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office recused itself because of a conflict and appointed outside special counsel, who has been leading an active probe and hired an off-duty Pinal County reserve deputy to assist.
- County officials replaced one scanner at an estimated cost of $70,000 because they believed it was compromised, and the dispute builds on a longer power struggle over election control that could complicate operations before early voting and the July 21 primary.