Prosecutors asked a judge to deny St. Paul City Council member Dai Thao’s request to drop the election-related charges facing him, arguing Thao’s claim he wasn’t aware of the law is not a viable defense.
The Dakota County attorney’s office also took issue with other legal arguments asserted in Thao’s dismissal request, including his claim that the charges violate the federal Voting Rights Act as well as Thao’s right to free speech.
The memo filed this week in Ramsey County District Court was in response to a motion for dismissal submitted last month by Thao’s defense attorney, Joseph Dixon.
The Dakota County attorney’s office is handling the case to avoid a conflict of interest for Ramsey County.
CHARGES NOT VIOLATION OF FEDERAL LAW, PROSECUTORS SAY
In his motion, Thao’s attorney argued that the charges against him violate the federal Voting Rights Act that allows voters in need of aid at a polling place due to “blindness, disability or inability to read or write be given assistance by a person of the voter’s choice.”
Without Thao’s aid, Dixon wrote, the woman he helped cast a ballot — when he was running for St. Paul mayor last November — would have been unable to vote.
The Hmong woman reportedly did not speak English and had vision problems. Further, the defense argued that no election officials offered to help her, leaving Thao to step in.
While the federal act prohibits employers or union representatives from offering such an assist, it makes no mention of candidates for office. Minnesota law, conversely, does make that distinction.
As such, Thao maintains the state’s law undermines federal law.
Not only is the state’s law not in conflict with the federal act, according to the prosecution’s memo, its addition of candidates to the list of those prohibited from assisting voters aims only to better protect citizens from influence at the polls.
“If elected, the candidate assumes a position of authority to regulate and monitor government actions, enact laws, and form public policy. The possibility that this unique interest creates incentives for candidates (whether real or perceived) to engage in conduct that would negatively impact the integrity of the voter’s decision at the time a vote is cast … is significantly greater than that of a noncandidate,” prosecutors wrote.
The prosecution also maintains that states are granted authority under the United States Constitution to regulate conduct and speech at polling places such as Thao’s, so long as the regulations are “in a manner reasonably intended to serve the purpose for the forum.”
‘IGNORANCE OF THE LAW IS NO EXCUSE,’ STATE ARGUES
Regarding Thao’s argument that he deserves acquittal because he wasn’t aware his conduct broke state law, the state says that reason isn’t valid.
“It is a deeply rooted concept of our jurisprudence that ignorance of the law is no excuse,” the state’s memo says.
The state contends that Thao’s final argument regarding election officials also fails.
He asserted in his motion that it was the responsibility of such officials to inform him that his conduct was illegal. Since they didn’t, he argues he isn’t legally liable.
While election officials may not have stopped him, they also didn’t grant him permission, prosecutors pointed out. Further, they say it’s not known at what point officials became aware that Thao was a candidate.
CHARGES EXPLAINED
Authorities charged Thao with unlawfully marking a ballot, misconduct in or near polling places and unlawful assistance of a voter — misdemeanor-level offenses — after he drove a Hmong woman he encouraged to vote to the Martin Luther King Recreation Center last Nov. 6 and helped her mark her ballot.
With no Hmong interpreters made available to help her from election judges, Thao, accompanied her into the voting booth himself.
The woman later told authorities that while Thao read her the candidates’ names and helped her mark her ballot, he did not tell her whom she should vote for, nor that he was a candidate running for mayor.
St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter wound up winning the race. Thao came in a distant third.
NEXT STEPS
A pretrial hearing is scheduled in the case in mid August.
Thao waived his right to a jury trial and will have his case decided by a judge.
Dixon said his client will continue to fight the allegations.
“The state’s position is now clear,” he said. “They do not contend that Dai Thao did anything intentionally wrong and they acknowledge that his conduct was permitted by federal law. We maintain our belief that (his) conduct was fully lawful.”