The video showed two employees at the county’s Tabulation and Election Center working late and handling what appeared to be a USB drive. Online commentators and election-integrity activists questioned the activity. Maricopa County Elections said the workers were performing authorized technical work, and McGee said they were setting up software for ballot duplication.

That process is used when a ballot is too damaged for counting equipment to read: bipartisan teams transfer the voter’s choices to a replacement ballot that can be processed by the machines.

“There is no such thing as a normal workday in elections,” McGee said in a radio interview Thursday, describing election staff as working around the clock to prepare for voting. She said Heap’s office could have called the Board of Supervisors to ask about the work before contacting the FBI.

Instead, McGee said, the referral put county employees at risk amid widespread online attention. She said an investigator asked by the FBI to examine the allegation found no evidence of wrongdoing.

“You don’t do that to Maricopa County employees,” McGee said, adding: “Shame on Justin Heap for doing that.”

The county elections department said the employees were performing a legitimate task late at night in the days before an election, and warned that images could be used on social media to imply misconduct when that was not the case.

The dispute unfolds amid a longstanding conflict between Heap and the Board of Supervisors. Supervisor Thomas Galvin also criticized the recorder’s staff on social media, using an insult to describe them. The comments add to tensions around election administration as voters prepare for the midterms.

McGee urged officials and the public to ask questions before drawing conclusions about technical election work, saying county employees should not be targeted over routine duties. Heap’s response to her criticism was not included in the available account.