Updated 3/22 at 2:30 p.m.
A unanimous ASUO Constitution Court has restored disqualified Executive candidates Bret Jacobson and Matt Cook to the general election ballot, and has set a major precedent for how candidates can campaign in the residence halls.
The court ruled the pair did not break University Housing rules when they distributed fliers outside rooms in the halls. Justice Sara Pirk, writing the court’s decision, said the ASUO Elections Board also violated Jacobson and Cook’s right to due process when it removed the candidates on the final night of the primary election.
Pirk said the Elections Board did not give the candidates enough time to prepare a defense before making a decision.
“In the case at hand, petitioners neither were afforded notice, or the right to a fair hearing before the elections board,” Pirk said.
The board made its decision after vice presidential candidate Jeff Oliver filed a grievance against Jacobson and Cook. But during the March 16 hearing of Jacobson’s appeal, court members said neit her the board nor Oliver were obligated to serve Jacobson with the grievance.
Justice Alan Tauber worried a situation could happen where a grievance could be filed and the board could disqualify candidates without the candidates ever knowing.
Jacobson and Cook placed second in the primary election behind Nilda Brooklyn and Joy Nair. But after the disqualification, Eric Bailey and Oliver briefly won the second spot in the general run-of f election, set for sometime spring term.

Oliver said in his grievance that Jacobson and Cook broke housing and elections rules when they distributed their fliers in the halls. But the court said that to prove wrongdoing, Oliver would have needed to provide evidence that Cook and Campaign Manager Eric Pfeiffer ro amed the halls unattended.
Pfieffer testified at the hearing that he and Cook gained access to the halls from residents who escorted them from floor to floor as they distr ibuted fliers.
“Had the alleged dorm residents who chose to go to Mr. Oliver filed the petition, or even an affidavit that Mr. Cook and Mr. Pfieffer did wander the halls unescorted, this court may have been hard pressed to find that the housing rules had n ot been violated,” Pirk said in the decision.
The court ruling also clears up confusion that has been mounting the past few years about campaigning in the residence halls. Two years ago, Wylie Chen and Mitra Anoushiravani faced similar accusations, but the case was dropped after the pair won the election by a large margin.
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Even though the decision clears the way for a Jacobson and Cook vs. Brooklyn and Nair battle, the election itself is still on hold until the court decides on a challenge to the Multicultural Center’s ballot measure.
Check the Emerald’s first print issue after spring break for reactions from the candidates and election updates..