Scottsdale Republican Whose Ballot Was Stolen Speaks Out

After our scoop ran yesterday detailing a wave of ballots stolen from a North Scottsdale apartment complex went viral—including a KFYI appearance this morning on The Conservative Circus with James T. Harris—several other Arizonans reached out to the Globe to describe similar frustrations.

One of the people quoted in our original story, Leslie Gemmell, had shared how her mail-in ballot had been among the items taken, and she noted that her neighbor, a fellow named, Steve Sunshine, “His mail was missing for a week. Finally, the post office told him that someone got hold of the master key.”

And now, Mr. Sunshine himself has reached out to the Globe to detail exactly what’s fishy in North Scottsdale.

Funnily enough, Mr. Sunshine originally got in touch to express his discomfort with having been mentioned in the story. Sunshine, a kinda badass classic car mechanic who now makes his living with a really cool mold-fighting showerhead called ShowerClear, told the Globe that he and Mrs. Sunshine wondered if the Post Office would possibly retaliate against them for complaining. “My wife even said to me, ‘oh, shit, if your name is in there, maybe we won’t get mail anymore.’ Maybe the mail people that are involved in this conspiracy to steal ballots will screw us up with getting our mail in the future.”

But even seeing that as a possibility reveals how troubled the mail system has grown in this key area of a hotly contested state.

So here’s what happened, in Sunshine’s own words.

“It’s weird because, you see, I’m the one that actually went to the post office in Scottsdale, and when I asked the agent, and this is good things for you to know, and you could talk about it if there’s any further things that you’re going to be writing about or follow up to this thing. When I asked the agents at the desk, I asked them, I said, I’m not getting any mail. I just went there, and I said I didn’t get any mail for a week.”

“And he said, ‘Okay.’ I handed him my driver’s license with my Scottsdale address, and he says, ‘Okay, let me go in the back and check.’”

Let’s pause the narrative here to note the irony of the US Postal Service requiring an ID to check on one’s mail, even as Democrats in Arizona and virtually every other state aggressively fight efforts to require ID to actually vote.

But back to Steve’s story.

“Then when he came out, and he didn’t have any mail in his hand, he said to me, he said, ‘You know, a lot of people have been reporting this, and we are investigating it. That’s all I can tell you.’”

“I said, ‘So let me ask you another question. Are you still delivering mail to the boxes?’ And he said, ‘Yes.'”

“So my response was, ‘Okay, why? You just told me that you know that complete boxes of mail, entire boxes are being stolen.’ And he said to me, he alluded to the fact, and I don’t remember his exact words, but he alluded to the fact that somebody had compromised the key, let’s say had a master key. So I said, ‘So why would you still be delivering mail?’ And he says, ‘I can’t answer any more questions.’”

“I said, ‘Well, that’s not a good answer.’ So I had kind of, I won’t say I staked out the mailbox, but I just happened to be passing by when the actual mailman was delivering mail to another box on the street. You know, the boxes have multiple boxes.”

Here’s a photo of the mailbox system at McDowell Mountain Ranch, where Steve Sunshine resides.

“So I said to the mailman, as he was getting into his truck, I walked over to his window. He rolled it down partially, like he thought I was going to attack him or something. I’m not that threatening of a guy. Anyway, so I walked over to him and I said, ‘Are you aware that all the mail is being stolen?’ And he said, ‘It’s under investigation.’ And he rolled up the window and he drove away.”

“So why are you delivering it? I don’t get it. So yes, this is a this is a major problem, I think, because there’s something going on.”

The Globe asked Mr. Sunshine exactly the same question it had posed to Ms. Gemmell. Why has the belief taken hold that these thefts are aimed at ballots rather than just random thefts bad guys commit while looking for ordinary checks and packages?

“Look, I’m a registered Republican. I guess so is Leslie. So there’s two. So are they stealing only from registered Republicans? I can’t answer that. I don’t know the answer to that. But yes, this is very disturbing on many levels, because, OK, let’s play it out in a for instance, and this would be the ultimate disaster. Let’s say I go to vote in person and I hand them my driver’s license and my voter card and they go into the computer. And let’s say they say, ‘I’m sorry, you can’t vote. You already voted by mail.’ What would happen then?”

Obviously, if the thieves are targeting only Republicans and then casting those stolen ballots for Harris and Gallego and other Democrats, that’s an incredibly troubling development. To date, The Globe has yet to find evidence that the thieves are intentionally targeting Republicans in particular. But there’s a scenario where it doesn’t really matter what the intent of the thieves are. The Globe has now identified at least six registered Republicans who’ve had their ballots stolen from two different locations, and no Democrats. Even if those stolen ballots end up in the trash instead of cast for Democrats, it obviously helps Democrat vote totals when Republicans are disenfranchised.

Exactly how voters victimized by stolen ballots will have their rights restored will depend on the county in which they reside, as well as statewide guidance by Secretary of State Adrian Fontes. Fontes, a Democrat, recently told Politico, “We are the center of the storm when it comes to election denialism.” So it’s not clear he agrees that there are actual problems affecting the state, even amid concrete, name-attached examples of ballots going missing, such as the six people the Globe has identified so far. And in Maricopa County, County Recorder Stephen Richer, although titularly a Republican, has seemed more interested in being lauded by MSNBC, where any Republican willing to criticize the party is automatically lionized, than in getting to the bottom of votes actually being counted in the way they were intended.

The Globe will continue to follow this developing story and anyone who wants to share tips about their own ballot shenanigans can contact [email protected].