Even before the votes for ASUO Executive were counted Thursday, the ASUO Elections Board had disqualified Bret Jacobson and Matt Cook’s second-place finish in the race.
The board voted 4-1 in favor of a grievance filed by rival vice presidential candidate Jeff Oliver, with Elections Coordinator Shantell Rice casting the single dissenting vote.
Jacobson, who called the decision an “irresponsible finding” and the process “disappointing,” said he will explore an appeal of the decision to the ASUO Constitution Court.
Oliver filed the grievance after Jacobson’s campaign volunteers distributed fliers outside doors in the residence halls last week. Oliver said the action broke election rules requiring equal access for all candidates to University facilities.
Oliver — who is running with presidential candidate Eric Bailey — added that University Housing adopted a Residence Hall Association rule that candidates could place a poster in each of the common areas of the four complex lobbies, but not in the actual residence halls.
Jacobson said he carefully examined election rules before distribution, but he did not talk to the elections board personally or consult University Housing rules.
The board agreed with both of Oliver’s points and said the action affected the election’s outcome. Election rules allowed the board to consider the housing regulations in its decision to disqualify Jacobson and Cook.
Rice left the ASUO office before the election results were released and could not be reached afterward for comment.
But board member Ken Best said he was confident the board came to a thorough decision.
“We looked at it from all angles,” he said. “We decided on the grievance long before the results were released.”
But Jacobson said he thinks the board missed key angles and didn’t communicate sufficiently with housing and his campaign.
“We were never cited by housing. We were assumed guilty there [by the board],” he said.
Jacobson also criticized the board for not interviewing people from his campaign and accepting his written statement only hours before the decision without proper time to investigate his claims.
“We first heard about the grievance [Wednesday] from the Emerald, not the elections board,” he said.
But Oliver said the board’s decision did not surprise him, and the violations were clear.
“All along I felt the grievance had a pretty solid case,” he said.
After Oliver filed the grievance, Rice appointed board member Emily Sedgwick to investigate and gather facts before the board made its decision.
“We needed to make this decision before the results of the election were found out,” Best said.
Despite being from rival campaigns, Oliver and Jacobson both agreed Sedgwick should have taken a more proactive role in her investigation.
Both said Sedgwick told them to compile facts and witnesses, but they believed that was her job as the grievance investigator.
“The fact-finding was left up to us,” Oliver said. “We had to prove this to her.”
But Jacobson said that besides his removal from the ballot, his biggest disappointment is the way the rules limited political discussion in the residence halls.
“I am appalled that these rules are anti-democratic,” he said. “But we did receive the second most votes, and we have a rightful place on the general election ballot.”