Maricopa County officials clash over livestream incident and election security handling

A viral livestream from Oct. 7 at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center has revived a feud between Board of Supervisors Chair Kate Brophy McGee and County Recorder Justin Heap. The footage, set up by the activist group “We The People,” showed two employees updating a computer used to print duplicate ballots after original ballots were damaged. McGee accused Heap of sidestepping the board by notifying the FBI and the U.S. Attorney General’s Office and of posting the workers’ identities online, which she called doxxing.

She emphasized that the computers are not internet-connected and that the staff were performing high-priority, collaborative work under county safety protocols. Their disagreement follows a summer settlement that allocated funding for 12 early-voting positions, 24 new IT roles, and a $15 million IT system while keeping the board’s oversight of ballot tabulation. With less than two weeks until the July 21 primary, McGee urged voters not to overreact, noting early-voting turnout already exceeds that of the 2022 midterms, and reaffirmed confidence that ballots will be counted accurately.