San Luis, Arizona – The small border city of San Luis, Arizona is embroiled in another controversy after a convicted ballot harvester, Gloria Torres, appointed the new Vice Mayor. Torres, who was convicted of ballot abuse in June 2023, was appointed in a close 4-3 vote during the regular city council meeting on December 13.
The City of San Luis, Arizona released the following announcement:
During the Regular City Council meeting held on December 13, 2023, Mayor Nieves Riedel and the City Council appointed Gloria Torres as the new Vice Mayor for the City of San Luis.
Former Vice Mayor Luis E. Cabrera recommended the motion to appoint Council Member Gloria Torres as Vice Mayor; the motion was seconded by Council Member Matias Rosales and approved four aye votes and three nay votes.
Vice Mayor Gloria Torres was first elected to the San Luis City Council in 2000 and is currently serving her third full term in the City Council. While on council, she has advocated for the improvement of our parks, streets, and infrastructure. Apart from serving on the San Luis City Council, she has been an active member of Comite de Bien Estar, National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO), and the League of Arizona Cities and Towns. She has served on the Gadsden Elementary School District #32 Governing Board, Western Arizona Council of Government Regional Council on Aging and on the Yuma County Advisory Council.
Upon relinquishing the duties and responsibilities of Vice Mayor, Council Member Luis E. Cabrera said serving as the city’s Vice Mayor for the past year had been an honor and a grand privilege.
“I am thrilled to be appointed Vice Mayor of the City of San Luis,” stated Vice Mayor Gloria Torres.
The decision came just six months after Torres pleaded guilty to ballot abuse charges in June 2023, which stemmed from involvement in a ballot harvesting scheme that was uncovered through an investigation by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, assisted by the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office.
The revelations followed an exposé by local figures David Lara and Gary Garcia Snyder, who set up a hidden camera and captured incriminating video surveillance outside a San Luis polling station. Their footage contributed to the conviction of former San Luis Mayor Guillermina Fuentes and resident Alma Yadira Juarez in 2022.
Gloria Lopez Torres and Nadia Guadalupe Lizarraga-Mayorquin, also known as Nadia Buchanan, were each indicted with two class 6 felonies for conspiracy and ballot abuse.
These indictments allege that Gloria Torres collected seven early ballots from Nadia Guadalupe Lizarraga-Mayorquin in the 2020 primary election, and Lizarraga-Mayorquin collected at least one early ballot from Flor Aylin Castaneda.
The Gateway Pundit previously reported that Gloria Torres received search warrants at the Comite De Bien Estar nonprofit office in San Luis, and law enforcement was looking for evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 Election.
Gloria Torres was the San Luis City Council Member and Gadsden Elementary School District Board member who faced a recall effort last year stemming from her political ties to former Gadsden Elementary School Board member and ex-Mayor of San Luis, Arizona, Guillermina Fuentes.
The Gateway Pundit previously reported that Guillermina Fuentes, who was convicted of a felony in 2022, ran a very sophisticated ballot-harvesting operation in the border city of San Luis.
Guillermina Fuentes was originally indicted for two Class 4 felonies of Forgery and Conspiracy, a Class 5 felony of Ballot Abuse, and a Class 6 felony of Ballot Abuse. She pleaded guilty to only one class 6 felony for ballot abuse, despite trafficking many ballots and forging signatures on ballots. The charges for ballot signature forgery were dropped.
A second accomplice, Alma Yadira Juarez, also pleaded guilty to her role in a local ballot trafficking operation during the 2020 primary election long after this evidence was delivered to law enforcement. Juarez, who was indicted in December 2020, admitted to authorities that Fuentes gave her the ballots to stuff into ballot boxes. Fuentes was later indicted for multiple felonies.
Yet, despite Gloria Torres‘ guilty plea to ballot abuse, which resulted in a two-year probation period, the Council’s majority felt Torres was suitable for the vice mayor role.
Gary Garcia Snyder, who is running for the Arizona House of Representatives in Legislative District 25, told the Arizona Daily Independent, “I am both outraged and disappointed that a convicted ballot abuser has been elevated to this leadership position. The fact that a majority of the Council appears to have so little regard for our laws is an insult to residents, particularly in the Latino community. We are tired of this type of corruption and the Democrats so blatantly parading it in our faces.”
“Promoting a convicted ballot harvester, who has played a key role in the keeping the Democrats’ corrupt grip on our Latino communities, has to be a wakeup call for the Hispanic community in San Luis and surrounding areas,” he added.
“We are fed up with these hijinks and low standards. I am seeing my fellow Latinos migrating towards conservatives like me who hold high standards, share their values and their languages. Salva tu familia, tu Dinero, tu opportunidades y mas importante el sueno Americano vota con el partido Conservador “El Real partido del Hispano,” Snyder concluded.