An activist with ties to a central player in President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election encouraged her followers to flood a Maricopa County elections office with job applications.
Now a liberal voting rights group is calling for an investigation.
Living United for Change in Arizona, known as LUCHA, is raising the alarm after activist Merissa Caldwell used a Telegram chat to encourage her EZAZ followers to apply for jobs in Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap’s office.
Heap oversees voter registration and mail-in voting in one of the nation’s biggest swing counties. The Republican recorder is a Trump ally who has dodged questions about whether the 2020 election was fair.
“Call that what it is: Election interference,” said Alejandra
Gomez, LUCHA's executive director. “He is working with far-right groups like EZAZ to now erode the integrity process of who gets to work inside of the elections administration building and tabulating votes.”
According to a Telegram post, Caldwell promoted permanent, full-time job openings in Heap’s office. The jobs included early voting center supervisor, logistics coordinator and IT project manager, among others.
“This is your chance to help restore integrity to Arizona’s elections and save the Republic,” the post read.
Caldwell is an activist who leads the Arizona chapter of the Election Integrity Network, a nonprofit helmed by Trump lawyer and election-denier Cleta Mitchell.
Mitchell is best known for participating in the January 2021 phone call where Trump pressured a Georgia election official to find enough votes to overturn the 2020 result. She also funneled money to the widely mocked Cyber Ninjas “audit” of the 2020 ballot count in Maricopa County, which ultimately affirmed former President Joe Biden’s victory.
Caldwell and Mitchell are close enough that Mitchell was on Gulf of America yacht cruise where Caldwell married the Heap's director of special projects, Jeff Caldwell. Mitchell was at the ceremony, according to a screenshot of the Caldwell wedding video.
Mitchell’s nonprofit also gave $620,000 to a foundation behind EZAZ website, Caldwell’s Strong Communities Foundation of Arizona, according totax filings. Mitchell declined to comment.
Caldwell embraced Mitchell in an email to The Arizona Republic.
Gomez, however, wants Democratic Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes to open an investigation into Heap’s ties to Caldwell, Mitchell and EZAZ. Heap did not respond to a request for comment.
LUCHA has sparred with Caldwell in recent months after she falsely accused the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors of contracting with LUCHA to register voters.
Caldwell recommended that her critics “touch grass” and likened The Republic's inquiry to a “witch hunt.” She also posted an AI video to X, which depicted her in her wedding gown saying “you clearly have a case of Merissa derangement syndrome.”
“This story is tinfoil level hat conspiracy stuff,” Caldwell said in an email. “Aluminum might be getting to their brains. They might want to check with their doctor.”
Heap did not ask Caldwell to encourage EZAZ members to apply for jobs, Caldwell said, adding that she had “no idea” how many EZAZ members he ultimately hired.
Caldwell noted that she previously referred people to work for other elections officials, including former GOP Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer.
Richer, who contributes to The Republic’s opinion section, confirmed Caldwell was correct.
Further, Caldwell said the Board of Supervisors asked her to work the election, but they didn’t have a schedule she could accommodate.
Maricopa County Elections spokesperson Jennifer Liewer confirmed that a pollworker called Caldwell in May to see if she could work in the July primary. Caldwell had submitted a form in February to express her interest in working as a pollworker, Liewer said.
“My mission is to make sure elections follow the law and have transparency — and implement the same minimum best practices from supply chain standards from at least 20 years ago,” Caldwell said. "I have encouraged citizens to work in government, especially elections, since 2018.”
But to Alyssa Bowen, the deputy executive director of left-leaning research firm True North, Heap’s connections to Mitchell, Caldwell and the EZAZ group are troubling. Bowen’s firm led the research into Mitchell and Caldwell.
It’s not clear whether Arizonans can trust election workers who share an agenda with the Election Integrity Network, she said.
"It's terrifying to have someone connected to EIN and their conspiracy-minded thinking in a position of power over our elections,” Bowen said.
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: Election denier encouraged followers to apply for county election jobs
