# Maricopa County **Maricopa County** is Arizona's most populous county; its county seat is Phoenix. This page covers the county **as an election-administering government**: the five-member Board of Supervisors and the elected County Recorder, who between them run elections for most of Arizona's voters. Because of that, it has been the main target of Arizona election denial since 2020. ## Who runs the count Arizona splits election duties between two elected bodies. The **Recorder** keeps the voter rolls and handles early voting by mail. The **Board of Supervisors** runs Election Day and canvasses the result. For 2026 the board is **Chair Kate Brophy McGee, Vice Chair Debbie Lesko, Thomas Galvin, Mark Stewart and Steve Gallardo**, a Republican majority with Gallardo the lone Democrat. The Recorder is Republican [[Justin Heap]]. ## History in this vault - **2020–2022: the Senate review.** The Republican-controlled state Senate subpoenaed the county's 2020 ballots and equipment. When the county refused, the Senate won in court, and the ballots went to [[Cyber Ninjas]] for the [[2021 Maricopa County Presidential Ballot Audit]]. Then-Secretary of State [[Katie Hobbs]] refused to recertify the machines the contractors had handled, and the county replaced them at a cost of **$2.8 million**. In January 2022 the county answered the review's 75 claims point by point. - **2022.** Election Day printer problems at vote centers became the basis of [[Kari Lake]]'s suits to overturn her loss to Hobbs. The suits failed. - **The Recorder seat.** [[Stephen Richer]] (R, 2021–2025) became a prominent Republican critic of election denial and lost the 2024 primary to Heap. ## The 2025–26 Recorder–Board war Before leaving office, Richer negotiated an agreement that moved funding, IT staff and functions such as drop boxes and early-voting site setup from the Recorder's office to the Board. Heap sued, arguing the Board had taken control of election administration illegally (*Heap v. Galvin*). A Superior Court judge **sided with Heap in April 2026**, finding the Board had exceeded its statutory authority. After the Court of Appeals stayed that ruling as too close to an election, the **Arizona Supreme Court lifted the stay in July** and imposed a 12-point plan for the July 21 primary. Court-ordered mediation produced a settlement announced **July 14, 2026**: | Function | Who controls it | |---|---| | Early voting (sites, equipment, staffing) | Recorder (Board funds 12 new positions) | | Election Day voting | Board | | Tabulation of all ballots | Board | | Emergency voting | Board, by Recorder's delegation through 2028 | | IT | Joint oversight until a new $15M Recorder system is built; Board funds 24 IT positions | For November 2026 that means **the count stays with the Board**, while the Recorder controls the early-voting process most Maricopa voters use. "Its success will ultimately be measured by its faithful implementation," Heap said. ## Related - [[SharpieGate]] (2020) · [[Stop the Steal]] · [[Election Denialism]] - [[Post-Election Audit Crosswalk]] · [[How Election Results Are Transmitted and Reported]] - [[Karen Fann]] · [[Mark Finchem]] · [[Kris Mayes]] · [[Adrian Fontes]]