Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap said mail-in voting would be slower this fall and blamed a facility closure by the U.S. Postal Service, but the nation's mail carrier said he is wrong.
“The Postal Service has not closed any Phoenix-area processing facilities and has more than enough capacity to successfully process local Election Mail volume,” USPS spokesperson Sherry Patterson said in an email.
Heap, a Republican who oversees mail-in voting in one of the nation’s biggest swing counties, raised the issue Sept. 30 at a Maricopa County Board of Supervisors meeting.
The county recorder is an ally of President Donald Trump, who has tried to clamp down on mail-in voting during his second term in the White House. Heap also has ties to the election
denier movement and used a bitter legal battle against the Board of Supervisors to expand his oversight of elections in recent months.
Heap spoke to the board ahead of the pivotal Nov. 3 election, where Arizonans will cast votes for governor, attorney general, Congress and other important offices.
Any issues with mail-in voting could be particularly disruptive in Arizona, where more than 80% of voters cast their ballots by mail.
Heap warned officials that mail-in voting would be slower than usual because the ballots would be routed out of state to San Diego.
“There is going to be somewhat of a delay in the mail going in and out. That doesn't have to do with our office. It has to do with the post office. Many people may not be aware, but the post office closed down their central facility in Phoenix a year ago, which means now everything is routed through San Diego,” Heap said. “That can add a few days to the mail. So make sure that you get those ballots in early.”
But according to Patterson, Heap is wrong. No facilities have closed and USPS has plenty of capacity to process mail ballots, she said.
“The Postal Service has successfully delivered America’s election mail, and we are confident that we will do so again this year. We rely on longstanding, robust, and tested policies and procedures, which have proven successful in the secure and timely delivery of Election Mail," Patterson said in an email.
Patterson said the Postal Service’s longstanding recommendation still holds: Early ballots should be mailed at least a week before they must be received by elections officials. This year, that is Oct. 27.
Heap did not respond to a request for comment.
The recorder's eyebrow-raising claim about San Diego came just before early voting was set to begin for the crucial November midterm election.
Early voting starts Oct. 7, though a Maricopa County vendor erroneously mailed more than 3,000 ballots six days early. The mistake earned Heap a scolding from Trump, who used the issue to revive his year-old and unfounded claims of widespread election fraud in Maricopa County.
Stephanie Murray covers national politics and the Trump administration for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. She co-hosts “The Gaggle,” The Republic’s weekly politics podcast. Reach her at stephanie.murray@usatodayco.com, on X and TikTok @stephanie_murr and on Instagram @stephaniemurray.news.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: US Postal Service challenges Heap claim that ballots face mail delays
