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Bronx GOP official made poll workers pay her to get the gigs, prosecutors say
By
Brigid Bergin
Published Aug 28, 2024
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By
Brigid Bergin
Published Aug 28, 2024
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Federal prosecutors have charged a Bronx Republican elected official with bribery, extortion, fraud and identity theft in connection with what they say was a scheme to force potential poll workers to bribe her.
Prosecutors allege that Nicole Torres, 43, an elected Bronx Republican district leader who also works at the New York City Board of Elections, personally pocketed $28,000 by gatekeeping plum poll worker assignments. In an indictment unsealed Wednesday, they say that since 2019 Torres has ordered residents to pay her and a “Bronx organization” $150 in order to be selected for one of the poll worker positions. Authorities have not named the organization.
People who work as poll workers on Election Day and all nine days of early voting can earn up to $2,750. People who work just one day make only $250 a day.
Torres is also accused of falsifying records so she could obtain checks in the name of no-show poll workers, which she would later divide with the Bronx organization.
Neither Torres nor her attorney could be reached for comment.
Mike Rendino, head of the Bronx Republican Party, said he was away with his family on vacation and just read about the charges on Wednesday.
“I hope these allegations are not true,” Rendino texted.
In a statement announcing the indictment, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said Torres “brazenly abused her power and lined her own pockets for over five years by demanding that poll workers pay her bribes in order to work as a poll worker and by falsifying records to make it look like certain individuals worked as poll workers during an election even though they never did."
The office's Public Corruption Unit is handling the case. The city’s Department of Investigation and the New York City Board of Elections were also involved in the investigation.
“The Board of Elections is proud to have been a partner in this investigation, which has led to the discovery of potential malfeasance isolated to an employee in the Bronx,” said Vincent Ignizio, the board's deputy executive director. “We continue to send the clear message that any allegation of wrongdoing will be thoroughly investigated and referred to law enforcement immediately.”
The position of district leader is unpaid. Torres serves as a Republican district leader in the northwest Bronx's 81st Assembly District, which Democratic Assemblymember Jeffrey Dinowitz has represented for 30 years. Torres has also worked as a voting machine technician at the New York City Board of Elections since 2016. She has been suspended without pay, according to Ignizio.
Dinowitz said Torres, who ran against him for his Assembly seat and lost in 2020, is entitled to the presumption of innocence. But he said the charges against her, if true, are “reprehensible.”
“This is the type of thing that causes some people to have less confidence in our election system,” Dinowitz said. “And it's kind of ironic that it's always the Republicans who are challenging the validity of our elections when in this case, it's the Republicans who are being accused of this criminal activity,” he added.
Torres was arrested on Tuesday morning and appeared in court that afternoon. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil. If convicted of the charges, Torres will face a minimum sentence of two years in prison.
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Brigid Bergin
Brigid Bergin is an award-winning senior reporter on the People and Power desk. She is fiercely committed to telling stories that help people engage and support democracy. In 2022, she hosted a live, ten-week call-in politics show ahead of the midterm elections called The People's Guide to Power. Brigid's reporting in 2017 included some of the first coverage of a political newcomer now known as AOC. In 2016, she broke the news of a voter purge in Brooklyn just days before New York’s presidential primary, triggering city, state and federal investigations. Brigid also guest hosts The Brian Lehrer Show and All Of It. She graduated from the University at Albany and the CUNY Newmark School of Journalism. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-723-4719.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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