Federal investigators have obtained large volumes of election data from Arizona’s largest county as part of a widening probe into potential voting irregularities connected to the 2020 and 2024 elections.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The FBI has expanded its investigation into potential election irregularities by secretly obtaining a large collection of voting records from Maricopa County, Arizona, through a grand jury subpoena, according to individuals familiar with the probe.
Details of the investigation were first reported in a Just the News report, which cited multiple sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the secrecy surrounding grand jury proceedings.
According to those sources, federal agents have begun receiving gigabytes of electronic election data from Maricopa County, Arizona’s most populous jurisdiction and home to the city of Phoenix. The subpoena marks the latest development in a broader federal investigation examining election procedures and ballot handling in several states.
The move follows an earlier action in Georgia, where federal investigators executed a search at a Fulton County elections warehouse and seized ballots from the 2020 presidential election. The Georgia raid was previously documented in reporting about the investigation into the county’s vote-counting procedures during the 2020 election, including coverage of the FBI’s search of the facility near Atlanta that stored election materials from the state’s largest metropolitan county, as detailed in a report about the FBI raid on the Fulton County elections warehouse.
Federal scrutiny of Arizona election procedures has been ongoing since the Arizona Senate conducted a review of the 2020 election. The investigation, led by the Republican-controlled state Senate, examined ballot handling and counting processes in Maricopa County and concluded that irregularities had occurred.
More recently, investigators were alerted to additional concerns involving the 2024 election. According to the sources, federal authorities reviewed a report submitted by two congressional election observers—one Republican and one Democrat—who were stationed in Maricopa County during the November 2024 election.
The observers reportedly documented situations in which blank absentee ballots and completed ballots were stored in the same facility at a warehouse location in Arizona. The report, which included photographs of the storage area and ballots, has not been publicly released by Congress.
House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil referenced the observers’ reports during an appearance on the television program Just the News, No Noise, indicating that congressional investigators were examining those findings.
“We’re digging back through those reports that were submitted by our election observers that were deployed across the country,” Steil said. “This is where working hand in glove with other federal government agencies is so important.”
“We have reports documenting instances that occurred in Arizona and across the country, and we are reviewing those in real time and working hand in glove with federal partners to make sure that the law was followed in every jurisdiction in the country,” he added.
Sources familiar with the investigation said the observer report from Maricopa County described a warehouse facility that was heavily guarded and contained ballots connected to elections from multiple states.
Officials indicated that the report was among the factors that contributed to the issuance of the grand jury subpoena now being executed by the FBI.
According to those sources, investigators are expected to pursue additional subpoenas and searches in other states in the coming weeks as the probe continues.
Public details about the scope of the federal investigation remain limited. However, an affidavit unsealed after the FBI’s search of the Fulton County elections facility in Georgia outlined the legal framework guiding the investigation. The affidavit stated that federal agents were examining whether election administrators complied with laws requiring state procedures to be followed when ballots are distributed and counted.
The court filing linked to the investigation, available through the federal court system, is contained in the document titled gov.uscourts.gand_.355087.22.1.pdf.
In that filing, FBI Special Agent Hugh Raymond Evans wrote that investigators had already verified certain irregularities during their review of the Georgia election process.
“Some of those allegations have been disproven while some of those allegations have been substantiated, including through admissions by Fulton County,” Evans wrote. “This warrant application is part of an FBI criminal investigation into whether any of the improprieties were intentional acts that violated federal criminal laws.”
Questions surrounding Maricopa County election procedures have been debated for years. The county moved toward widespread mail-in voting more than a decade ago, which prompted concerns and challenges from both political parties at different points.
Following the 2020 election, the Arizona Senate commissioned a comprehensive audit of Maricopa County’s ballots and voting systems. One analysis associated with that review estimated that more than 200,000 ballots with mismatched signatures may have been counted without undergoing the required review or “curing” process.
Details of the signature verification concerns were documented in a study that estimated the number of ballots potentially affected, which is available in a report describing the finding that more than 200,000 ballots had mismatched signatures. The same source provides access to the full report on signature verification.
Disagreements over election administration in Maricopa County have continued into preparations for future elections.
The county’s Recorder, Justin Heap, and the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors have recently clashed over election procedures and administrative responsibilities.
The conflict centers on a Shared Services Agreement outlining how the Recorder’s Office and the Board of Supervisors divide responsibilities related to election administration under Arizona law.
County officials reported that the board adopted a revised version of the agreement earlier this year after negotiations failed to produce a mutually accepted plan. Details of the dispute were documented in reporting describing how the Maricopa County recorder and supervisors clashed over early voting administration.
In April, the board approved a revised agreement detailing responsibilities for election operations. Recorder Heap responded by proposing 170 changes to the agreement and returning it to the board as what he described as a final proposal, according to a county news release.
After negotiations failed, Heap filed a lawsuit seeking to restore authority he said Arizona law grants to the county recorder’s office.
Heap stated that the lawsuit was intended to “reclaim the legal authority afforded to the County Recorder under Arizona law and ensure that [his] office is not further deprived of the resources necessary to perform those duties to the fullest extent possible.”
In February, the Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution that functions in place of the original Shared Services Agreement. The resolution, available in a county document describing the arrangement permitting control over early-voting plans, allows the Recorder’s Office to oversee early-voting operations while leaving funding, staffing, contracts and Election Day logistics under the board’s control.
Board Chair Kate Brophy McGee said the resolution was intended to clarify responsibilities after negotiations stalled.
“Since Mr. Heap has not provided a serious response to our latest SSA offer, we felt it was important to state publicly and transparently how we will go about navigating some of the most contentious issues between our respective offices so that we can ensure elections run smoothly and securely for Maricopa County voters,” McGee said in the county statement.
Following the resolution, members of the board sent the recorder a formal letter outlining their proposal for early voting operations, which is documented in a county communication sent to Recorder Heap.
The letter stated that the board supported maintaining an extensive early in-person voting program consistent with previous election cycles.
Heap later responded publicly, outlining his concerns about the proposal in a statement published on the recorder’s official website. In that response, available through the recorder’s office statement regarding early in-person voting, Heap said the board’s proposal could create difficulties for voters.
He wrote that he rejected the proposal because Arizona law “expressly authorizes the Recorder to establish early voting locations,” adding that he believed the board’s approach could make voting “inconvenient and inaccessible for a large number of Maricopa County voters.”
Federal investigators have not publicly detailed how long the current probe will continue or which additional jurisdictions could be included as the investigation progresses. Sources familiar with the matter said the FBI’s examination of election records in Arizona and Georgia could expand further as investigators review evidence connected to election procedures across multiple states.
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