Wow. The arrest came the day before the election. This is very troubling. UPDATE: Apparently the council member himself was not up for reelection. I think an arrest for a charge like this the day before an election looks politically motivated. There are reasons for not interfering with an imminent election. The DOJ manual for prosecuting election crimes, for example, says to wait until after the election if possible so as not to interfere with an imminent election.