Maricopa County Supervisor Leezah Sun faced a recall petition filed this month over her claims about 2026 election security in the county. The petition process has been complicated by a lawsuit challenging the disqualification of more than 6,000 signatures by County Recorder Justin Heap under a contested statute, according to court documents and officials.
The recall petition targeting Maricopa County Supervisor Leezah Sun was complicated this month by a lawsuit filed by the political action committee Protecting Their Future. The lawsuit challenges subsections of the statute that Heap cited to reject signatures from individuals who were either unregistered voters or whose signatures did not match voter registration records. Protecting Their Future argues that these disqualifications violate the constitutional rights of free speech and recall petitioners.
The PAC sued Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap over his disqualification of more than 6,000 petition signatures under a disputed statute, court documents show.
The lawsuit names Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Greg Como, appointed by former Gov. Doug Ducey, seeking to void the contested subsections and compel Heap either to reconsider the validity of the disqualified signatures or to accept them as valid. According to the complaint, the statute limits disqualifications to cases where the signer was not a qualified elector of the district on the date of signing, but the PAC contends that Heap’s office applied the statute more broadly. If the court does not intervene, the PAC’s attorneys warned that the will of qualified electors could be overridden, preventing valid recall efforts from proceeding.
Heap’s disqualification of the signatures has escalated tensions between his office and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. The board is scheduled to hold a hearing on the matter, responding to voter disenfranchisement claims raised by Heap’s own staff last month, officials confirmed. The dispute is part of a broader power struggle between Heap and county supervisors. Maricopa County Supervisor Mark Stewart has retained outside counsel to negotiate with Heap over the division of election duties, and Stewart suggested that the board could move to remove Heap if he fails to appear at the hearing. Board Chair Kate Brophy McGee said the supervisors will consider an appeal after Judge Como sided with Heap in a prior case.
Supervisor Thomas Galvin accused Heap of repeatedly providing false information during a January budget meeting, according to board meeting records. The supervisors have described Heap’s lawsuit as frivolous and full of falsehoods, while Heap’s office characterized the board’s conduct after the January meeting as a “juvenile temper tantrum,” according to internal communications obtained by the news outlet.
Heap, a Republican election skeptic, is set to oversee Maricopa County’s first statewide election in the 2026 midterms, raising concerns among election officials and advocacy groups about the potential impact of ongoing disputes on public confidence. Pinny Sheoran, advocacy chair for the League of Women Voters of Arizona, noted frayed trust in county election management amid the feud. Heap has also drawn scrutiny for running voter records through a federal system to screen for noncitizens, despite questions about the accuracy of that data. In September, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Harmeet Dhillon requested preservation of election records, and the FBI subpoenaed similar records from the Arizona state Senate president, according to sources familiar with the investigations.
The recall petition process in Arizona requires signatures from 25% of votes cast in the last general election for all candidates, divided by the number of offices filled, according to Arizona Revised Statutes 19-201.A. Recall petitions can only be filed against public officers who have held office for at least six months, and the statute applies only to the first term if the official is serving consecutive terms, as stated in A.R.S. 19-202.A. The statute also restricts signature disqualification to cases where the signer was not a qualified elector of the district on the date of signing.
Protecting Their Future has targeted several school district board members in Maricopa County, including Leezah Sun and Steven Chapman of the Tempe Union High School District. Other active recall efforts include campaigns in the Peoria Unified School District and Phoenix Elementary School District, with signature requirements ranging from just over 2,000 to more than 21,000 and deadlines extending into 2026. Some petitions have been rescinded following resignations, such as those against Jessica Bueno and Bryan Parks.
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has adopted a resolution reflecting a settlement offer that Heap has yet to accept, according to board records. The ongoing legal and political battles over election administration and recall petitions continue to unfold as the county prepares for the 2026 election cycle.
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