AG steps in with stern warning as MAGA official threatens to jail election workers

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has jumped into a brewing crisis in Maricopa County over how ballots are to be collected, kicked off by the county's MAGA-aligned recorder jumping to push a new restriction.

The recorder, Justin Heap, put the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors on notice not to install any of the 12 new ballot drop boxes they had approved for sites around the county, and warned that any election workers in the state who handle ballots deposited at "unauthorized" drop boxes will face criminal penalties.

Mayes, a Democrat, is stepping in, sending a letter to the legal counsel for Heap and two members of the Board of Supervisors, clarifying this is not how it works.

"As the chief legal officer of Arizona and the officer entrusted with enforcing the criminal provisions of Title 16 for the upcoming primary and general elections, I consider it my duty to speak here," wrote Mayes. "By voting to designate drop box locations, Board members did not become criminals. And, by collecting ballots at these drop box locations, Board employees would not become criminals."

On the contrary, she continued, "the Board was following established practice. Every two years, Arizona's Secretary of State issues an Elections Procedures Manual with rules governing 'early voting and voting,' as well as 'collecting, counting, tabulating, and storing ballots' and other subjects. A.R.S. § 16-452."

"Recorder Heap's counsel claims that the rule conflicts with a statute that authorizes Recorder Heap to establish 'early voting locations,'" wrote Mayes. "But, as a matter of common sense, a drop box is not an early voting location. It is simply a place to deposit a voted and sealed early ballot packet. One cannot obtain a ballot and fill it out at a drop box like one can at an early voting location. Indeed, if Recorder Heap's counsel were correct, every mailbox in the state would be an early voting location, and every mail carrier could be accused of illegally harvesting ballots."

Mayes concluded the letter by warning Heap not to continue making "unfounded threats of criminal liability" against county officials and election workers.