St. Paul City Council Member Dai Thao will return to court later this summer on charges that he illegally assisted a voter while running for mayor last year.
St. Paul Council Member Dai Thao has court date set for Aug. 13
May 23, 2018 at 12:06AM
![St. Paul mayoral candidate Dai Thao spoke to volunteers before the start of the Payne Arcade Harvest Festival and Parade. ] Shari L. Gross ï shari.gross@startribune.com Profile of St. Paul mayoral candidate Dai Thao. Dai Thao at a parade on Payne Ave in St. Paul. Something tight of his face and then something of Thao in action.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/5KO4D7LVLWYY6KA2XMHTZULJLI.jpg?&w=712)
Thao, 42, will appear in Ramsey County Court for a motion hearing Aug. 13. A motion and briefing will be filed on or before June 8, said his attorney, Joe Dixon.
"There's really not a dispute about any of the facts, and so it's just, what is the law?" Dixon said Tuesday.
Thao has said repeatedly that he did not do anything intentionally wrong, and that he was simply trying to help a voter on Nov. 6 when he drove an elderly Hmong woman to the polling place, escorted her into a voting booth and helped her fill out her ballot.
Thao faces a gross misdemeanor charge of unlawfully marking a ballot, as well as petty misdemeanor charges of misconduct in and near polling places and unlawfully assisting a voter. He pleaded not guilty to those charges in March.
First elected to the council in 2013, Thao represents St. Paul's First Ward.
He has said he will not resign his council seat, and a misdemeanor conviction would not require him to do so.
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