Maricopa board adopts election plan without Heap's input

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(The Center Square) - The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors approved an election plan for this year’s primary and general elections.

The Phoenix-based board OK'd the plan without consulting Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap, who is in a legal battle with the board over who controls certain election functions.

Supervisor Mark Stewart told The Center Square on Monday that Heap “understands the importance of the operation of the elections, and he’s not going to thwart that.”

“He wants a great election just like we do,” he noted.

The dispute between the board and Heap is about “who gets to tell who what to do” rather than how the elections will actually run, the supervisor said.

“ It's important for the voter to know that [the dispute]is not going to affect the ability for [the county] to run the election. It's just about who's in charge of it and the reporting structure,” he explained.

Even though the board did not consult with Heap personally on the election plan, Stewart said the board’s staff worked with Heap’s office on items such as early voting centers and election locations.

He noted the board’s staff is in “constant communication with the recorder’s staff on operational best practices.”

Staff from both sides are “working together brilliantly,” Stewart added.

He said, despite the ongoing court case, the board will move forward with the election plan.

The Center Square reached out to Heap’s office, but it did not respond before publication time.

The board's plan includes 236 vote centers for the primary election and up to 260 for the general election, Stewart said.

He noted Maricopa County expects the July 21 primary election to draw almost 1 million voters, while the county anticipates between 1.4 million and 1.6 million voters in the Nov. 3 general election.

Stewart said a new option is available for voters to bring their early ballots to an early voting or day-of voting location and have them tabulated on the spot. He added that voters need to bring their ID to confirm their identity before this takes place.

Maricopa County, which has been known for election delays in the past, aims to limit the time people wait in line to vote to no more than 15 minutes, according to the supervisor.

Early voting in county has already begun for the state’s upcoming primaries. Stewart said an estimated 200 people have voted so far and that elections in the county were “doing well.”