A Maricopa County judge may grant a request to prevent a third-party audit of the County’s election systems, due to concerns that the auditors have not been vetted.
This decision from the judge comes as a blow to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, who arranged the third-party audit. Maricopa County had planned on hiring the Intersect Group to conduct an audit of its elections processes at a cost of $400,000.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney scheduled a hearing to review what Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap claimed: that the supervisors initiated an improper audit without his knowledge on election technology seized from his office.
Heap further claimed the board arranged the audit to create facts amid this ongoing litigation, and to keep Heap away from the election technology long enough to “entrench Board control” ahead of the 2026 primary election.
“The Recorder accuses the Board of initiating the audit, and conducting the audit in this matter, for the improper purpose of assuming control of the systems and databases at issue in this case, delaying statutory compliance, and rigging the status quo to affect the outcome of the case,” stated the ruling.
Judge Blaney said what concerned him most, however, was Heap’s allegation that the third-party vendor’s staffers would have direct access to sensitive voter data despite not being individually vetted.
Blaney also wrote in his ruling:
“The Court is concerned, based upon the limited record before the Court, that voters’ privacy interests and the integrity and security of critical voting systems may be at risk. Specifically, it appears from the Recorder’s Motion and supporting Declaration that irreparable injury is likely to occur if proper procedures and guiderails are not in place to ensure voter’s privacy and the integrity of the voting systems. But the Board must have an opportunity to address these issues before the Court will issue findings regarding irreparable injury, balance of hardships, public policy, and of course likely success on the merits. Although the Court is primarily focused on voter privacy and system security in this paragraph, the Court recognizes that
the Recorder’s remaining arguments may potentially have merit as well.”
In response to these allegations, Blaney set an in-person evidentiary hearing on the Emergency Motion for Temporary Restraining Order or Preliminary Injunction for next month.
The Recorder and the Board will each be allotted 45 minutes to present their respective positions.
The evidentiary hearing will take place November 6, 2025, at 10:00 a.m.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been updated as it erroneously included a passage from previously published article.
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Anyone following AZ elections knows the process has been corrupted, thanks to Stephen Richer, Adrian Fontes, Katie Hobbs and the Maricopa Board of Supervisors. As just one example, did the legislature vote to make random drop-boxes, unattended, legal? The only person who is completely above reproach, at this stage, is Heap. And yet, the BOS ties his hands. Why?