Maricopa County Supervisor Mark Stewart is backtracking on his position of support for following Arizona’s election laws and has filed a request for a stay in the matter of Heap v. Galvin, et al.
On Monday, Stewart filed a formal response with the court requesting immediate, court-ordered mediation in the ongoing legal dispute over county election responsibilities.
In his filing, Stewart does not support an open-ended stay. He instead is looking for “a short-term stay to allow mediation to proceed by using a court-appointed mediator and a timeline to bring all parties to the table within the next two weeks.”
Stewart said in his announcement of the court filing that he “appreciates the work his Board colleagues and the Recorder have dedicated to this complex issue.”
“While he holds a differing perspective on the path forward, he recognizes they all share a common goal of providing best-in-class elections to Maricopa County voters that are reliable, secure, and transparent,” concluded Stewart’s announcement.
In late April, Stewart’s colleagues on the Board of Supervisors voted to appeal a judge’s decision that said Heap’s office was in control of critical election functions.
Heap criticized the supervisors while maintaining a civil tone and pledging to work with them to restore confidence in elections.
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In Heap v. Galvin, et al., Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney ruled that Heap’s office was in control of critical election functions and that the board’s continued control of the recorder’s “IT [information technology] staff, servers, databases, software and websites” prevents Heap from carrying out “his statutory duties independently.”
Blaney added that it “constitutes an unlawful usurpation of the Recorder’s statutory authority.”
The judge also said Heap “has consistently expressed willingness to cooperate with the Board.”
“The Court does not see the same willingness from the Board,” he noted.
“Supervisor Stewart needs to decide whether he is for election integrity or not,’ one political consultant told the Arizona Daily Independent. “Right now, he just looks like a guy who doesn’t know what he wants except to please no one.”
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