{"id":2370154,"date":"2024-11-18T07:36:01","date_gmt":"2024-11-18T12:36:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/minnesota-election-official-faces-felony-charges\/"},"modified":"2024-11-18T07:39:13","modified_gmt":"2024-11-18T12:39:13","slug":"minnesota-election-official-faces-felony-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/minnesota-election-official-faces-felony-charges\/","title":{"rendered":"Minnesota Election Official Faces Felony Charges"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fminnesota-election-official-faces-felony-charges%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2370154&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>During the recent election, concerns regarding election integrity arose in Minnesota,\u2064 specifically in \u2063relation to\u200d an incident involving Timothy Michael Scouton, an election judge. Scouton \u2064has been charged with two felonies after \u200dallowing eleven unregistered individuals to vote in the election. The Hubbard\u2063 County Attorney&#8217;s office reported that Scouton failed \u2062to provide necessary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mystery-swirls-over-batch-of-thousands-of-2020-voter-registration-forms-in-michigan\/\" title=\"Michigan is shrouded in mystery over a large batch of 2020 voter registration forms.\">voter\u200d registration forms<\/a> and \u2063allegedly instructed fellow judges not to use these forms. As a result, he faces\u200d potentially severe penalties, including up to 10\u200c years in prison and $20,000 in fines.<\/p>\n<p>Minnesota&#8217;s Secretary of State, Steve Simon, called the situation &#8220;extremely serious,&#8221;\u200b emphasizing the responsibility of\u2062 election \u2064judges to follow the law. Meanwhile, the incident has sparked discussions about\u200c the need for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/house-democrats-move-on-h-r-1-for-the-people-act-to-eliminate-voter-id-requirements-remove-gop-congressional-seats\/\" title=\"House Democrats move on H.R.1 \u2018For the People Act\u2019 to eliminate voter ID requirements, remove GOP congressional seats\">voter identification laws<\/a> in Minnesota, a proposal which Simon has historically \u200copposed. State Representative Krista Knudsen voiced her support for such reforms, urging collaboration between parties to address recurring election integrity issues. This <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">incident underscores ongoing \u200ddebates surrounding voter fraud<\/a> and election \u200dsecurity in\u200c the state, which has seen various electoral challenges in recent years.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Election integrity took a bit of a beating in Democrat vice presidential candidate Tim Walz&rsquo;s Minnesota this election year, prompting one lawmaker to call for reforms &mdash; beginning with enacting a voter ID law.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcchicago.com\/news\/local\/minnesota-election-judge-charged-for-allegedly-letting-11-unregistered-people-vote\/3602848\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Timothy Michael Scouton<\/a>, who served as the head election judge in northern Minnesota&rsquo;s Badoura Township Precinct, now faces two felony charges for allowing unregistered individuals to vote in this month&rsquo;s election.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Hubbard County Attorney&rsquo;s office has charged the 63-year-old Nevis, Minn., man with one count of accepting the vote of an unregistered person (11 in all) and another count of neglect of duty, according to the criminal complaint.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.co.hubbard.mn.us\/auditor_treasurer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hubbard County Auditor Kay Rave,<\/a> according to the Associated Press, could not find voter registration forms &ldquo;among the ballots and other materials&rdquo; Scouton turned in.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Another election judge told an investigator from the county sheriff&rsquo;s office that Scouton directed them not to use the registration forms, the complaint said, while another said Scouton told them that new voters needed only to sign the back of a book,&rdquo; the AP <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcchicago.com\/news\/local\/minnesota-election-judge-charged-for-allegedly-letting-11-unregistered-people-vote\/3602848\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported.<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The election judge was arrested and made his initial court appearance on Friday. His next hearing is slated for Jan. 6, according to reports.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<div lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>&#128680; NEW: A Minnesota election judge is being charged with two felonies after allowing eleven unregistered people to vote.<\/p>\n<p>&#128240; AP\/Star Tribune <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/h6BiFEJTSz\">pic.twitter.com\/h6BiFEJTSz<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&mdash; Dustin Grage (@GrageDustin) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GrageDustin\/status\/1857907971319095588?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 16, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Reached Sunday morning, Scouton told The Federalist that while he would like to comment he has been advised not to.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Rave did not return a message left by The Federalist.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>If convicted on both charges, Scouton could face up to 10 years in prison and $20,000 in fines.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>&lsquo;Deliberate Failure&rsquo;<\/h2>\n<p>Minnesota&rsquo;s top election official called the charges &ldquo;extremely serious.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;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,&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sos.state.mn.us\/about-the-office\/about-the-office\/about-steve-simon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Secretary of State Steve Simon&rsquo;<\/a>s office said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kare11.com\/article\/news\/local\/hubbard-county-election-judge-charged-letting-11-unregistered-people-vote\/89-8a2154f8-6fc1-489e-92fc-90ce5270590c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But the leftist Simon has long opposed basic voter identification laws, election integrity checks in place in 36 states, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncsl.org\/elections-and-campaigns\/voter-id\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according to<\/a> the National Conference of State Legislatures. Following the <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/11\/15\/trump-proved-rigged-elections-are-winnable-now-its-time-to-un-rig-them\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">irregularity-plagued 2020 general election<\/a>, Simon blasted a Republican-led photo ID measure as &ldquo;unnecessary.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This country has seen a tidal wave of disinformation about our democracy, about voting and about our last election,&rdquo; Simon <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/minnesota-elections-steve-simon-voting-coronavirus-pandemic-3f164b2fc5b5014058ad73f72d13c555\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told<\/a> the Senate elections committee at the time. &ldquo;These are lies designed to manipulate and mislead people. So here is the truth: the truth is that the 2020 election was fundamentally fair, honest, accurate and secure. Period. State and federal courts around the country have examined and reexamined allegations to the contrary and found nothing &mdash; no material fraud or misconduct.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>That&rsquo;s not true. There definitely was <a href=\"https:\/\/electionfraud.heritage.org\/search?state=mn\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fraud and other election law violations<\/a> in the 2020 election, as there is in every election. Case in point, Abdihakim A. Essa. The Minneapolis man in 2022 &ldquo;was accused of intentionally making or signing false certificates when submitting absentee ballots in Hennepin County,&rdquo; according to the Heritage Foundation&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/electionfraud.heritage.org\/case\/200129\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/heritage-foundation-says-14-states-improved-their-election-integrity-score\/\" title=\"Heritage Foundation Says 14 States Improved Their Election Integrity Score\">election fraud database<\/a>.<\/a> &ldquo;Essa, a non-citizen, forged his father&rsquo;s signature as a witness on the ballots. He pleaded guilty to four of the thirteen counts, all state felony offenses. He was sentenced to 180 days in an adult correctional facility; all but 90 days of this sentence was stayed pending successful completion of 2 years of supervised probation. He was also assessed $78 in court costs.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>&lsquo;The Status Quo is Not Working&rsquo;&nbsp;<\/h2>\n<p>Minnesota state <a href=\"https:\/\/www.house.mn.gov\/members\/profile\/15592\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Rep. Krista Knudsen, R-Lake Shore,<\/a> told Alpha News that the charges against Scouton appear to be another example of the need for a strong voter ID law. She urged Simon to work with Republicans &ldquo;in making election law changes that will put a stop to the numerous <a href=\"https:\/\/alphanews.org\/courier-fired-after-breach-in-protocol-left-probably-several-thousand-ballots-unattended-in-open-trunk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">problems<\/a> we&rsquo;ve seen throughout this election cycle.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I want to thank the Hubbard County Auditor for their work to catch this individual and for their vigilance in protecting the integrity of our election,&rdquo; Knudsen <a href=\"https:\/\/alphanews.org\/election-judge-faces-felony-charges-for-allegedly-accepting-ballots-from-unregistered-voters\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told<\/a> the publication.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The election-related misconduct charges just add to the election integrity problems in Democrat Gov. Tim Walz&rsquo; deep blue Minnesota. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Ballot printing <a href=\"https:\/\/alphanews.org\/ballot-error-found-in-another-minnesota-legislative-race\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">issues<\/a>, results <a href=\"https:\/\/alphanews.org\/questions-raised-over-reporting-delays-irregularities-in-minnesota-house-election-results\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reporting<\/a> malfunctions and errors, slow counting of ballots, <a href=\"https:\/\/alphanews.org\/scott-county-uncovers-new-issue-impacting-closest-minnesota-house-race\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">missing<\/a> ballots, and illegal voting all undermine confidence in the security of our elections,&rdquo; Knudsen said. &ldquo;The status quo is not working, and we need to take action next session to address these problems.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The American First Policy Institute warned of Walz&rsquo;s constant assault on election integrity months before the election, noting five measures the leftist governor supports that &ldquo;fail to protect legal votes and legal voters.&rdquo; Among them, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/georgia-republican-state-senators-propose-bills-to-end-no-excuse-mail-voting-automatic-registration\/\" title=\"Georgia Republican State Senators Propose Bills to End No-excuse Mail Voting, Automatic Registration\">automatic voter registration<\/a> and a driver&rsquo;s license law that puts noncitizens on the state&rsquo;s voter rolls. And Minnesota&rsquo;s same-day registration law allows anyone with a license and proof of insurance to register on the day of the election.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;There will not be enough time to vet if that person is actually eligible to vote before the election is certified, as has been pointed out before,&rdquo; AFPI warned in an August <a href=\"https:\/\/americafirstpolicy.com\/issues\/tim-walzs-failure-to-protect-voters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">press release.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>For more election news and updates, visit&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electionbriefing.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">electionbriefing.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Election integrity faced challenges in Tim Walz&#8217;s Minnesota, leading to calls for voter ID reforms after election judge Timothy Michael Scouton was charged with felonies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":656,"featured_media":2370155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Screenshot-2024-11-17-at-2.47.14-PM.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[3728,34412,5698,4808,5894],"class_list":["post-2370154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-election","tag-felony-charges","tag-minnesota","tag-official","tag-politics"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Screenshot-2024-11-17-at-2.47.14-PM.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2370154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/656"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2370154"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2370154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2370158,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2370154\/revisions\/2370158"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2370155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2370154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2370154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2370154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}