Maricopa Recorder Threatens Supervisors With Felony Charges Over Unauthorized Drop Boxes

In the latest escalation of the ongoing war over election administration in Arizona’s largest county, Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap has formally warned the Board of Supervisors that any attempt to establish or operate ballot drop boxes without his statutory approval could expose board members, employees, and even election volunteers to felony criminal charges under Arizona law.

The legal bombshell, first highlighted by The Epoch Times Arizona, was delivered by Heap’s attorney, James Rogers of America First Legal, just hours before the Board unanimously approved locations for 237 vote centers and 12 monitored ballot drop boxes for the July 21 primary election. Heap himself was absent from the meeting, which his office dismissed as “political theater.”

Rogers’ letter explicitly cited Arizona Revised Statutes § 16-1005, which prohibits any person or entity from collecting ballots by “misrepresenting itself as an election official or as an official ballot repository.” 

The attorney warned:

Any person or entity involved in establishing or operating such unauthorized drop boxes is committing a class 5 felony… These are serious felonies. The Board should not proceed with a resolution that exposes its members and employees to criminal prosecution simply because it wishes to assert control over a function that the Legislature has assigned to the Recorder.

The letter further cautioned that bipartisan teams of workers tasked with collecting ballots from the disputed drop boxes “could be charged with criminal ballot harvesting,” a Class 6 felony carrying up to two years in prison. Rogers argued that state law vests exclusive authority over early voting operations, including drop box designation, with the elected Recorder unless he affirmatively consents to the Board exercising that power.

The Board of Supervisors reacted with outrage. 

Supervisor Thomas Galvin called the threat “shocking and appalling,” claiming it was the first time county employees and volunteers had been threatened with criminal penalties “not only in Maricopa County, but in Arizona [or] in the United States of America.” 

Vice Chair Debbie Lesko accused Heap of cowardice for sending the letter but refusing to defend it in person. 

Supervisor Steve Gallardo went further, claiming Heap was “purposely trying to corrupt this election.”

Former Maricopa County Elections attorney Rachel Alexander weighed in on the heated exchange, framing the supervisors’ actions as part of broader “election fraud” efforts and emphasizing the RICO in Maricopa. In her commentary on the unfolding events, Alexander stated:

“Here’s the latest with the corrupt MaRICOpa County Supervisors and election fraud — they’re trying to set up ballot drop boxes, so our election integrity champion Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap told them they’d be committing felonies since drop boxes are under his jurisdiction per statute.

State Senator @JakeHoffmanAZ called to put the supervisors and their election director in jail.

Supervisor Mark Stewart is the only one of the five supervisors who supports Heap. He said during the board’s meeting, ‘He just wants to be able to have some say and approval of where the early-voting locations go because in his mind the statute gives him the authority to approve those things.’”

🚨🚨🚨🚨Here's the latest with the corrupt MaRICOpa County Supervisors and election fraud – they're trying to set up ballot drop boxes, so our election integrity champion Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap told them they'd be committing felonies since drop boxes are under his… https://t.co/XPexT1d4MU

— Rachel Alexander (@Rach_IC) May 22, 2026

Yesterday, State Senator Hoffman unleashed on the “morally corrupt,” ” legitimate liar” Debbie Lasso as one of the “most disappointing political suicides in recent history,” adding:

“Debbie Lesko, the majority of the Maricopa Board of Supervisors, and Scott Jarrett all deserve to be federally charged for civil rights violations. Jail time is warranted for their wanton disregard for the law.”

Debbie Lesko is legitimately a corrupt liar

I know for a fact that she knows full well the extent to which she’s gaslighting & outright lying to the people of Maricopa County

She’s so morally corrupt that she simply does it anyway

Debbie’s is one of the most disappointing… https://t.co/JerWQWzHBn

— Jake Hoffman (@JakeHoffmanAZ) May 21, 2026

This confrontation is no isolated spat. As The California Globe has repeatedly documented, Heap, a Republican elected in 2024 on a platform of restoring statutory authority and election integrity, has been locked in a protracted legal and political battle with the Republican-controlled Board of Supervisors (4-1) since taking office.

In April 2026, Maricopa County Superior Court delivered a sweeping victory for Heap in Heap v. Galvin, ruling that the Board had unlawfully seized the Recorder’s early voting IT systems and authority. The court ordered the systems returned and early voting functions restored to Heap unless he consented otherwise. The Globe reported extensively on the ruling as a major win for the independence of elected officials and election integrity.

Yet the Board has continued to push back. 

Earlier this year, The Globe exposed internal plans by certain supervisors to oust Heap and detailed a special meeting in which he was grilled amid a breakdown in negotiations over a Shared Services Agreement. In response, Congressman Abe Hamadeh (AZ-08) didn’t mince words in condemning the power grab: “Any attempt to oust the duly elected Maricopa County Recorder without a direct vote of the people… will be seen as nothing less than an undemocratic coup — and irrefutable proof of deep corruption.”

Heap has also publicly identified 60 non-citizen voters on Maricopa’s rolls as part of a citizenship audit, findings that drew national attention and a scathing rebuke of Arizona’s election failures from the Department of Homeland Security. 

The drop-box dispute strikes at the heart of long-standing concerns over Maricopa County’s election processes, concerns first thrust into the national spotlight after the 2020 election and the subsequent 2021 Arizona Senate forensic audit. Issues including signature verification lapses, chain-of-custody problems at drop boxes, voter roll anomalies, and delays in data release have persisted, fueling ongoing litigation, declining voter confidence, and public skepticism.

Heap’s office maintains that its warnings are not political but a necessary defense of clear statutory boundaries designed to prevent the very irregularities that have plagued the county. By contrast, critics on the Board portray the Recorder’s actions as obstructionist and last-minute sabotage.

As Arizona heads into another high-stakes election cycle, The California Globe will continue to monitor this standoff closely. The Recorder’s office has signaled it will not back down from enforcing the law as written, while the Board has vowed to protect its workers and proceed with its chosen drop-box plan.