An elections judge in Minnesota has been charged in an illegal scheme to let unregistered people vote in the 2024 election.
Timothy Michael Scouton, 64, was the head election judge in a small township of 100 in Hubbard County. Police arrested Scouton last week after witnesses said he told them to let people vote without registering.
It was Hubbard County Auditor Kay Rave who tipped off police after discovering 11 people had voted without completing registration forms.
Police then interviewed election judges in Badoura Township who worked the election with Scouton on Election Night.
One judge told police that Scouton had instructed her not to use the Minnesota Voter Registration Application form. Scouton's son was also working as an election judge and would have been overseeing the registration process, the witness said.
Amazingly, another judge said he was unaware the registration form was necessary or that it even existed. The judge said Scouton instructed him to have voters sign the back of a book.
Scouton allowed this despite completing his training in July to be a head election judge, the criminal complaint said. He "declined to provide a statement" after his arrest.
Minnesota's Democrat-aligned Secretary of State, Steve Simon, called the allegations "extremely serious" in an initial statement, but later downplayed the incident, insisting elections in Minnesota are "resilient."
Simon said this is a case of one bad apple, rather than a systematic problem. But the state's Republicans say reform is needed.
"This is yet another reason we need voter ID and for Secretary of State Steve Simon to join Republicans in making election law changes that will put a stop to the numerous problems we've seen throughout this election cycle,” Rep. Krista Knudson (R) said.
“The status quo is not working, and we need to take action next session to address these problems.”
The arrest fits a pattern of election-related breaches that have been consistently shrugged off by Democrats. Prior to the election, Michigan's Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson downplayed the arrest of a Chinese national who successfully cast a ballot.
Scouton was charged with one count of accepting the vote of an unregistered voter and one count of neglect of duty by an election official, both felonies. He is due back in court on January 6.
