Minnesota
Second Minnesota election judge faces criminal charges, adding to concerning day at the polls
Two election judges from different parts of the state now face criminal charges for their conduct on Election Day, adding to a list of concerning incidents that occurred when voters went to the polls in Minnesota.
Two months later, state officials are still dealing with the fallout as the nation prepares to swear in the next president.
While there are no allegations of widespread voter fraud or misconduct, problems did surface, including missing ballots, unregistered voters and election judge violations.
“The unintended rippling effect may be feeding into false narratives… that perhaps there’s rampant voting fraud in the state of Minnesota when we all know that’s not the case,” said Annastacia Belladonna-Carrera, executive director of Common Cause Minnesota, a nonpartisan group working to ensure safe, secure and fair elections.
Family matters in Ceylon
5 INVESTIGATES uncovered one incident in the small town of Ceylon, Minn., minutes from the Iowa border.
Mary Muller, the city clerk, was charged with a misdemeanor after serving as head election judge in the same precinct where her husband was on the ballot, a violation of state law.
Terry Muller ran for city council and won the seat.
“Part of this whole situation is election integrity matters,” said John Gibeau, the longtime mayor of Ceylon who lost his reelection bid in November.
5 INVESTIGATES traveled to the remote southwest Minnesota town where Ms. Muller continues to serve as clerk.
“I’m not talking to you,” she said as she gathered her things and started to walk out of city hall. “Get out of my office. Get out of my office.”
As Muller got in her car, she said, “It’s all a f–king joke” before leaving.
“At the end of the day, just the implication that somebody might have done something wrong or made a mistake, it gives the impression that maybe things are not on the up and up,” Gibeau said. “If one person thinks that and then doesn’t vote, that’s a big fail as a democracy.”
High-profile cases
There is no allegation that what happened in Ceylon changed the outcome of the election, but the people who work to ensure fairness say the problems should be a wake-up call.
“It chips away at our democracy,” Belladonna-Carrera said, calling the issues this election day “unusual.”
Case in point: Scott County.
A recount in the extremely close race between incumbent DFL Rep. Brad Tabke and Republican challenger Aaron Paul revealed that 20 ballots disappeared and were likely tossed in the trash.
This week, a judge denied the Republican’s request for a special election, but not before the state House started its session in chaos.
It’s also not the only high-profile Election Day controversy. Days before the election, the State Supreme Court found Hennepin County broke the law in how it picked election judges – something it managed to fix before Election Day.
County clerk faces felonies
Almost 200 miles away, Hubbard County prosecutors charged election judge Tim Scouton with two felonies – saying he allowed 11 people to vote who were not registered.
Charging documents suggest confusion inside the precinct that day over where the voter registration forms were located.
5 INVESTIGATES also made the trip to Hubbard County for a recent Badoura Township meeting, where Scouton continues to serve as clerk.
“Goodbye,” he said as 5 INVESTIGATES approached with a camera and microphone. Scouton left and never returned for the meeting.
Fellow board members said they still felt confident with Scouton serving as clerk, but said they only knew what they read in the news.
“We don’t know what happened. We were totally out of it,” said Theora Goodrich, board supervisor.
Election worker training
Belladonna-Carrera says that while these issues may seem minor, they collectively represent a broader problem.
“I think what this signals is perhaps a need to revisit the training aspect of these folks that are out there,” she said.
The Secretary of State’s office said the training of election judges is the responsibility of the individual counties and cities that hire them. However, the office does provide training guides, manuals, and even videos.
“Our office goes above and beyond what is legally required to ensure localities are supported in training their election judges,” said Cassondra Knudson, spokesperson for the SOS office.
Knudson said it’s extremely rare, but “occasionally errors or intentional violations of election laws do occur,” adding that redundancies in place ensure they’re caught quickly.
Belladonna-Carrera plans to address the issue before the next election cycle.
“I have no doubt that we have safe, secure elections. But I also don’t think that we should sort of sweep it to the side and say, well, it just happens to be in one instance or the other instance,” Belladonna-Carrera said. “All of our voters are owed a level of confidence.”
KSTP/SurveyUSA poll results: Trump, Walz both below 50% approval in Minnesota
The political feud between President Donald Trump and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is frequently documented.
While both try to score political points with their criticism of each other, neither has much in the way of bragging rights when it comes to approval ratings in Minnesota.
According to our exclusive KSTP/SurveyUSA poll, the president has a 42% approval rating in Minnesota with 55% disapproval. That 13-point difference is six points worse than our last survey three months ago.
Trump retains the approval of 89% of Republicans but just 35% of independents.
“Trump is always running a bit below the national average in job approval in Minnesota and that is the case here,” says Carleton College political analyst Steven Schier. However, the newest Associated Press/Reuters poll showed the president with a 39% approval rating and 59% disapproval, slightly better than his Minnesota results.
The president’s approval is bogged down by a 43% approval of his handling of the economy.
Gov. Walz doesn’t fare much better in our survey. For the second survey in a row, Walz is at 48% approval and 48% disapproval. Those ratings are his lowest in the 20 times we’ve surveyed his approval in the past four years. He’s seeking an unprecedented third four-year term as governor of Minnesota.
“Gov. Walz’s approval puts him in sort of a flashing yellow light zone,” says Schier. “There’s some danger ahead. He’s below 50% approval.”
The Walz approval numbers are weighed down by just 14% who say he’s done enough to stop state government fraud.
Our survey included 35% Democrats, 31% Republicans and 29% independents.
SurveyUSA interviewed 650 adults from the state of Minnesota 12/09/25 through 12/12/25. Of the adults, 578 were identified as being registered to vote and were asked the questions which follow. This research was conducted online, using nonprobability sample of online adult panelists chosen randomly by Cint USA. The combined pool of survey respondents was weighted to US Census ACS targets for gender, age, race, education, and home ownership.
ST. PAUL – The Minnesota Office of Cannabis Management and
Gov. Tim Walz
recently announced the signing of a cannabis cooperative agreement with
Red Lake Nation.
According to a release, the agreement outlines how the state of Minnesota and Red Lake Nation will protect the public health, safety and well-being of all Minnesotans regarding adult-use cannabis and supports Red Lake Nation’s tribal sovereignty, cultural identity and heritage.
“This partnership opens a new outlet for state-licensed cannabis businesses to access and sell legal cannabis and honors the independence of the members of the Red Lake Band,” OCM Executive Director Eric Taubel said in the release. “We look forward to their cooperation in bringing more cannabis supply to the state and seeing their cannabis operations develop and thrive while respecting the Red Lake Band’s autonomy.”
In Minnesota’s cannabis law, the legislature directed Walz to negotiate intergovernmental agreements with tribal nations sharing territory with Minnesota to strengthen public health and safety, secure an equitable and well-regulated cannabis market, and provide financial benefits to both the state and tribal nations.
Red Lake’s NativeCare dispensary
was the first in the state to sell legal, adult-use cannabis after the law legalizing cannabis took effect in August 2023. With this agreement in place, Red Lake is able to collaborate with state-licensed cannabis businesses and create partnerships.
“Our goal from the beginning has been to produce the highest quality cannabis products that are free of all toxins and impurities. Consistent testing has verified that we have reached our goal,” Red Lake Nation Chair Darrell Seki Sr. said in the release. “Now that our cooperative agreement with the state has been finalized, we are looking forward to sharing our top-shelf products with the Minnesota market.”
Compact negotiations continue between the state and tribal nations sharing territory with the state of Minnesota. To date, the state has signed compacts with White Earth Nation, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, Prairie Island Indian Community, Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe.
The state expects to announce additional tribal-state cannabis agreements soon.
Copies of signed, executed tribal-state cannabis compacts and cooperative agreements can be found on
OCM’s website.
The former NFL sideline reporter has met with top Republican committees as she weighs a 2026 bid and a rare GOP pickup attempt in Minnesota.
Michele Tafoya, the former NFL sideline reporter turned political analyst, is considering a run for the United States Senate in her current home state of Minnesota, OutKick has learned. Sources familiar with the situation say she is expected to make a final decision in early 2026.
Tafoya met with the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), Senate Leadership Fund, and other stakeholders in Washington, D.C. last week. The NRSC has been recruiting her to run for the Senate race in Minnesota, where the Democratic primary has pitted progressive favorite Peggy Flanagan against Chuck Schumer-backed Angie Craig.
Tafoya gave up her NBC career so she could speak more openly about her conservative political beliefs. The breaking point for Tafoya at the media giant came in December 2021 when she appeared on “The View” and served as the conservative panelist. The rest of the cast on the show supported Colin Kaepernick’s national anthem protest, and his assertion that the NFL resembled the slave trade, while Tafoya raised some important counterpoints.
“I’ve been covering the NFL for 25 years,” Tafoya said at the time. “Nobody forces these guys to play. I thought comparing it to the slave trade was a little rough. These guys enter willingly, they are the most well cared for people. Yes, they play a hard sport. And every one of them — black, white, Latino, whoever’s playing the sport — will tell you how much they love it, and they’re willing to do it, and they make a damn good living.”
Former NFL reporter Michele Tafoya is weighing a Minnesota U.S. Senate bid after meetings with GOP groups, with a final decision expected early next year.
(Charles LeClaire/USA TODAY Sports via Imagn Images)
Tafoya nnounced in February 2022 that she wanted to pursue other career opportunities. Shortly after, she became the co-chair for Republican Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Kendall Qualls when he ran against Tim Walz in 2022.
Tafoya’s Rise in Minnesota Politics
Since then, Tafoya has become more active politically, particularly in Minnesota. Tafoya has taken Walz and Rep. Ilhan Omar to task many times over their policies and rhetoric. Most recently, Tafoya has railed against a $1 billion fraud scheme in Minnesota that she linked to Walz and Omar.
Tafoya grew up in California and attended UC Berkeley for her undergraduate degree and USC for her master’s degree. She moved to Minnesota after graduation to pursue a career in sports broadcasting and has lived in the state since.
According to sources familiar with the situation, Tafoya has been receiving calls from supporters in Minnesota encouraging her to run, and she’s had ongoing conversations with South Carolina Sen. and NRSC Chairman, Tim Scott.
Minnesota hasn’t had a Republican senator since Norm Coleman, who left office in January 2009. Should Tafoya choose to run, she’d look to reverse a trend that has continued for over 15 years.
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