Finally, Maricopa County pulls off a 'boring' primary election

The odds were stacked against Maricopa County.

Dueling elections officials had only settled their lengthy administration feud a week before Primary Day. President Donald Trump revived his years-old election denial gripes in a primary week address to the nation. Mercury was even retrograde, an astrological sign that things were bound to go wrong.

"And yet the tabulators functioned," said Gina Swoboda, the former Arizona Republican Party chair who lost her bid for secretary of state on primary night.

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Maricopa County pulled off a “boring” election, just as officials had hoped. Most of the closely watched races were called by 8:30 p.m., after a generally smooth day at the polls.

It was a notable achievement for Arizona’s most populous county, which has been at the center of the election denial movement for half a decade. 

Arizona’s July 21 primary marked the first election since the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and Recorder Justin Heap put an end to their bitter legal feud and cut an election administration deal. 

The stakes were high. Maricopa County, one of the nation’s largest swing counties, has long been at the center of Trump’s ongoing effort to undermine faith in elections. That attitude has been fueled by a series of snafus, such as tabulation problems that sparked unfounded conspiracies in 2022. 

Now Heap, who ran on election denialism in 2024, holds a key role in administering an election in the closely watched county. 

Heap and the board each have a role in running the election in Maricopa County. The Republican recorder handles voter registration and early voting, while the GOP-majority board is in charge of Election Day voting and tabulation.

The transition from the early voting period to Election Day went smoothly on the morning of the primary, according to Adrian Borunda, Maricopa County Elections Department communications officer.

"A seamless handoff is really what we're looking to try to accomplish, and I think we've done that," Borunda said in an interview at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center. The lobby hummed with activity from members of the press throughout the day.

Turnout was typical on the mostly uneventful Election Day, Borunda said. The county had tabulated some 500,000 mail-in ballots by July 20, spokesperson Jennifer Liewer said.

County Supervisor Mark Stewart posted about intermittent AT&T connectivity issues at a handful of polling places. Stewart mentioned polling sites reporting problems as Veteran Oasis, Chandler Nature Center, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Happy Valley in Peoria and a church in Sun City.

By the afternoon, Stewart said problems had been settled.

“Getting great updates from folks voting today and the process is running smoothly across the board,” Republican Supervisor Mark Stewart said on X.

Several other minor hiccups were resolved the morning of the election, Borunda said. The Maricopa Vote website went down briefly at 4 a.m., he said, but was back online before polls opened. Plus, a poll worker at the Arizona State University Polytechnic Campus who did not know how to work the program was retrained, according to Borunda.

“The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors’ Elections Department performed wonderfully today,” Republican County Supervisor Thomas Galvin said on X.

Swoboda praised Maricopa County officials for embracing a new policy that allows voters to bypass signature verification by showing ID when they drop off their early ballot on Election Day. The policy was aimed at speeding up vote counting. So-called late early ballots that are dropped off on Election Day take longer to count than other votes because officials must verify the voter's signature on the ballot envelope.

Gale Grabe, a receptionist at Mountain Park Church in Ahwatukee Foothills, used the new option and said it went fine. Grabe’s church served as a voting center this year. She was pleasantly surprised by the voting crowd. 

“I didn't see any hateful people, nut cases. I had my eye on them. You know, you just you never know. People are getting so nutty,” Grabe said. “That's what I do. A lot of what I do is just keep an eye on what's going on.” 

Even a visit from the feds was “business as usual,” Arizona officials said shortly before polls closed.

The Justice Department sent election monitors to three Arizona counties, according to Harmeet Dhillon, the Justice Department’s assistant attorney general for civil rights. Monitors went to Maricopa, Apache and Pima counties for the primary.

“We haven’t heard anything out of the ordinary,” said Calli Jones, spokesperson for Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes.

When will more results be posted?

Results will be updated daily until all the votes are tallied. Arizona primary election results are unofficial until local and state officials have tallied all ballots and certified the results. 

What happened between the recorder and the board? 

The next test will be in November, when the stakes will be higher and County Recorder Justin Heap will have more power in overseeing the election in one of the nation’s largest swing counties. 

Republicans and Democrats will battle for control of the Arizona governor's office, while a Scottsdale-area congressional seat could tip the balance of Congress.

The Republican Heap campaigned on election denialism and has relied on legal advice from America First Legal, a firm with ties to President Donald Trump adviser Stephen Miller, in his battle with the GOP-majority County Board of Supervisors.  

Heap had battled the board over a shared services agreement that it negotiated with his predecessor, claiming that the supervisors had usurped his power. 

The Arizona Supreme Court sided with Heap. However, Heap ceded some of the power granted to him by the court back to the supervisors. For example, the high court had given Heap control of some early ballot tabulation, which Heap then agreed the board would handle.

"From the beginning, my objective has been simple: to ensure the Maricopa County Recorder's statutory responsibilities are carried out in accordance with Arizona law. I am pleased we have reached an agreement that, when implemented, will restore those responsibilities and establish a clear framework for administering elections moving forward," Heap said in a written statement.

(This story was updated with new information.)

Stephanie Murray covers national politics and the Trump administration for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. She also co-hosts “The Gaggle,” The Republic’s weekly politics podcast. Reach her via email at [email protected] and on social media @stephanie_murr.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Finally, Maricopa County pulls off a 'boring' primary election