PHOENIX — Maricopa County’s early voting period begins Wednesday amid a dispute over whether mail ballots could face delays, with County Recorder Justin Heap warning of slower delivery and the U.S. Postal Service disputing his explanation. Heap told the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors last week that ballots would move more slowly because, he said, the Postal Service had shut down a Phoenix processing plant. A Postal Service spokesperson said the agency has not closed any processing facilities in the Phoenix area and has sufficient capacity for local election mail. The agency said it has handled election mail before and will do so again. The conflicting accounts come as voters prepare to cast ballots, making clear and accurate information about mail delivery important for public confidence and planning. Board Chair Kate Brophy McGee urged Heap to be more careful with his statements, saying they could add to voter confusion. The dispute follows a separate ballot-handling error: More than 3,000 early ballots were mailed before they were supposed to be. President Donald Trump criticized Maricopa County’s elections on Monday over that incident. The error was attributed to Runbeck Election Services, a third-party vendor; Heap’s office is responsible for mailing the ballots. Heap’s office had not responded to a request for comment about the latest dispute as of Tuesday’s report.