An election judge in Minnesota is now facing serious criminal charges after he allowed multiple unregistered residents to cast votes anyway in the recent election.
As reported by Breitbart, Judge Timothy Michael Scouton was responsible for overseeing the election process in Badoura Township, a small town with a population of roughly 100 people. Hubbard County Auditor Kay Rave filed a complaint after she determined that she could not find completed registration forms among the ballots she received from Scouton’s jurisdiction.
This complaint led to an investigation by the Hubbard County Sheriff’s Office. Eventually, another judge who worked with Scouton on election night came forward and told police that Scouton explicitly ordered voters to not fill out the Minnesota Voter Registration Application. A third judge said that Scouton simply told new voters to sign the back of a book rather than fill out any official forms.
At least 11 people voted illegally as a result of Scouton’s actions. He was arrested last week and faces two felony charges: One count of accepting the vote of an unregistered vote, and one count of neglect of duty by an election official.
Scouton had finished his basic election judge training in July of this year. Adding to the complications of the case, it was revealed that Scouton’s son worked as an election judge on Election Night as well, and was responsible for registering applications.
In a statement following the arrest, the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office issued a statement.
“These allegations are extremely serious and must be fully and thoroughly investigated,” the statement read. “Election judges take an oath to administer elections in accordance with the law, a deliberate failure to do so is unlawful and a betrayal of the public trust.”
“Minnesota’s elections rely on the dedication and public service of 30,000 people and they are required to conduct their work fairly, impartially, and within the letter of the law,” the statement added. “The Hubbard County Auditor took prompt and correct action in notifying local authorities of the uncovered discrepancies so they could investigate.”
Every time people abuse our voting process, there needs to be harsh & immediate consequences, not matter who they are, what side they support or who they know. There should be no misdemeanor offenses for election tampering/ interference – it needs to be felonious across the board & with part of the cost of trying to cheating being the loss of your ability to cast a vote.