PARK RAPIDS, Minn. — The head election judge in tiny Badoura Township has been charged with allowing 11 people to vote even though they weren’t registered. Felony counts against Timothy Michael Scouton, age 64, were filed in Park Rapids, the county seat. A fellow election judge had reported that Scouton allowed new voters to sign the back of a book rather than filling out registration forms. Hubbard County Judge Robert Tiffany released Scouton his own recognizance Friday. A hearing was scheduled for January. Punishment for election irregularities can be as much as five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Township profile
Badoura Township, southeast of Park Rapids, is about as rural as townships come. It has 101 residents in its 36 square miles. As a township it also is a precinct with its own voting place. It is one of 28 townships in Hubbard County, population 21,000. This is 100 miles north of St. Cloud near the Leech Lake Reservation.