The fate of the criminal case pending against St. Paul City Council member Dai Thao for allegedly unlawfully assisting a voter last November is now in the hands of a judge.
Ramsey County District Judge Nicole Starr heard arguments from both the state and the defense in the case Monday morning, court records say.
Starr now has seven days to decide which side was more convincing, according to Thao’s attorney, Joseph Dixon.
Thao is seeking an acquittal or to have the case against him dismissed, Dixon said.
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, who is of Hmong descent and was a candidate for St. Paul mayor at the time, 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.
Thao’s attorney has argued in legal filings that the case against his client violates the federal Voting Rights Act that allows voters in need of special assistance due to “blindness, disability or inability to read or write (to) be given assistance by a person of the voter’s choice.”
He’s further argued that since Thao was not aware of the state law that prohibits candidates for office from assisting voters at the polls, he can’t be held criminally responsible for breaking it.
Further, he contends election judges should have told Thao that his conduct was unlawful.
The state, conversely, has argued that ignorance of laws is not a viable defense for breaking them. Further, it’s asserted in legal filings that the state law regulating proper conduct at polls simply bolsters the federal law, and is not in any way in conflict with it.
Thao waived his right to a jury trial in his case, leaving Starr to determine its outcome.