PRECINCT PRESENTATION - BOS.PPTX

Reprecincting 
Proposal
Maricopa County Justice Courts
Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Meeting
 September 10, 2025
Hon. Leonore Driggs, Presiding JP
Hon. Jennifer Jermaine, Associate Presiding JP

9/26/2025
Annual Review
2
Introduction
Leonore Driggs, Presiding Justice of the Peace 
    Arcadia Biltmore Justice Court
Jennifer Jermaine, Associate Presiding JP
    San Marcos Justice Court
Jennifer Harrold, Acting Court Administrator

9/26/2025
Annual Review
3
Agenda
§ Introduction
§ Levels of Court
§ What Justice Courts Do
§ Our Data
§ Plan for the Future
§ Questions/Answers

9/26/2025
Annual Review
4
Levels of Court
FEDERAL COURTS
STATE COURTS
Supreme
Supreme
US Constitution
Federal Laws
---
Bankruptcy
Immigration
Tax
International Trade
State Constitution
State Laws
County Codes
City Codes
Other Ordinances
Circuit
District
Justice / 
City
Superior
Superior
Supreme
Justice / 
City
Court of Appeals
Felony Crimes
Juvenile Crimes
Family Court
Civil Cases
Far more common

9/26/2025
Annual Review
5
Justice Court Cases
Traffic Tickets – criminal and civil
§ Highways, freeways, lakes in the county
 
§ Speeding, seat belt, registration, insurance, 
accident, DUI, OWI 
§ 40% of our work load
Civil Cases
§ Orders of Protection / Injunctions Against 
Harassment
§ Unpaid Debt/Collections
§ Civil Claims (to $10,000) / Small Claims (to $5,000)
§ Evictions
Criminal Misdemeanors
§ Assault, trespassing, disorderly conduct, 
shoplifting, writing bad checks, etc.

9/26/2025
Annual Review
6
Past Five 
Years of 
Case Filing 
Data
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
0
50,000
100,000
150,000
200,000
250,000
300,000
350,000
291,972
247,154
255,830
304,845
331,191
FILINGS

How Many 
Cases?
 Fiscal Year 2024:  
331,191

9/26/2025
Annual Review
8
Law on Justice Courts
ARS Title 22: Justice Courts
§ One court for each precinct
§ Maricopa County has 26 Justice Precincts
§ Number of precincts determined by formulas
§ “Judicial Productivity Credits”, aka JPCs

9/26/2025
Annual Review
9
JPCs
§ White Tank Justice Court – West Valley
§ ~20,000 cases  /  1,403 JPCs
§ ARS 22-125:  no more than 1,200 JPCs
§ Board of Supervisors must:
§ Redraw precinct boundaries
§ Create a new justice precinct

9/26/2025
Annual Review
10
JPC Count
Eight 
Months 
Ago

9/26/2025
Annual Review
11
JPC Count

9/26/2025
Annual Review
12
All 
Courts’ 
Judicial
Productivity
Credits

9/26/2025
Annual Review
13
§ Traffic Citations – 40% of our work
§ DPS, MCSO
§ Eviction Filings – 25% of our work
§ Growth Projections
§ Population, Construction
§ More people = more citations
§ More apartments = more evictions
§ New boundaries as straight as 
possible
§ Judge and Constables must remain in
     their precincts
FACTORS IN THE PLAN

9/26/2025
Annual Review
14
White Tank
Justice Court
§ White Tank, Country Meadows, Hassayampa
§ Three West Valley courts share borders
§ All three are high-volume courts
§ Too many JPC’s – all above 1,200.

9/26/2025
Annual Review
15
White Tank
Justice Court
§ Divide White Tank in half
§ Mostly along Interstate 10
§ Top half  White Tank
§ Bottom half  New court
§ Also shift JPCs away from Country Meadows 
and Hassayampa

9/26/2025
Annual Review
16
San Tan
Justice Court
§ Southeastern-most Maricopa County
§ Currently 1,272 or more JPC’s
§ Redraw boundaries
§ Putting voting precincts into neighboring 
precincts
§ This shifts JPCs away from San Tan to 
courts that can accept more JPC’s

9/26/2025
Annual Review
17
Justice Court Proposal

9/26/2025
Annual Review
18
Justice Court Proposal

9/26/2025
Annual Review
19
Justice Court Proposal

9/26/2025
Annual Review
20
All 
Courts’ 
Judicial
Productivity
Credits

9/26/2025
Annual Review
21
All 
Courts’ 
Judicial
Productivity
Credits

9/26/2025
Annual Review
22
Others’ Needs
Elections Department Changes
§ Use this opportunity to make 
minor changes
§ “Non-voting precincts” (NVPs) are 
existing precincts with no voters
§ Mostly these are vacant land
§ They would be merged into 
voting precincts that DO have 
voters
Non-Voting Precincts
§ 13 of these would be merged
§ Justice Precincts affected:
• Agua Fria (2)
• Hassayampa (1)
• Ironwood (3)
• Kyrene (3)
• San Tan (1)
• South Mountain (2)
• West Mesa (1)

9/26/2025
Annual Review
23
Population Growth

9/26/2025
Annual Review
24
Population Growth
JPCs with Revised/New Courts
MAG’s Population Projections

9/26/2025
Annual Review
25
Public Meetings
Two Virtual Sessions – July and August
§ Publicized in the press and on social media
§ KTAR news coverage
§ About 40 attendees including KTVK/KNXV
Answers
§ No. Courts where no changes were made are 
already balanced and/or landlocked where changes 
would not relieve others’ burden.
§ We are looking at solutions such as sharing staff and 
judges temporarily but this is not sustainable.
§ No. All judges/constables agreed to base this on case 
loads only and there are no significant demographic 
changes.
Significant Questions
§ There are some courts with no changes to their 
JPCs. Were those judges unwilling to modify 
their boundaries?
§ How will you manage if no changes can be made 
for at least a year? 
§ Is this gerrymandering?

9/26/2025
Annual Review
26
Summary
Research, research, research!
Multiple factors are taken into account
Court filings are up
4 courts pass the lawful JPCs for the work load 
More are approaching with population growth
Board of Supervisors must act
Either redraw boundaries or create a new court, or 
both
Current need, future needs
This will balance work across all courts for 
now, but growth continues
Access to Justice
This is not just about work for judges and 
staff. This is planned with the overriding goal 
of serving the public in the best, most 
efficient way for them to resolve legal issues

9/26/2025
Annual Review
27
Thank you for your attention 
and interest. 
We understand boundary moves 
would go into effect in time to be 
active for the 2026 election in the 
Fall.
We would hope to open the new 
court with a new JP and Constable 
in January, 2027.
Conclusion / Q&A