After the Ducks for a Difference campaign was given a warning by the ASUO Elections Board for violating rules, the ASUO Constitution Court stepped in.

Nearly two weeks after ASUO Chief Justice Nick Schultz issued a judicial order postponing the Election Boards ruling on the campaign violations, the court issued a ruling reversing the Board’s decision.

The court’s opinion mentioned that while the respondents, Lamar Wise, Amy Jones, Kevin Sullivan, Kevin Cronin and Katie Lyda never engaged in a conversation on whether or not the allegations were true, they did argue that ASUO Senator Ben Rudin, the petitioner, failed to file the grievance within the 48 hour deadline after the alleged violations occurred.

Before offering a solution, the court clarified that Article 13.5 of the ASUO Constitution allowed the ASUO Constitution Court to appeal the Election Board’s rulings and to interpret the Election Rules.

The court’s opinion centered around Article 8.1 of the 2013 Election Rules, which blatantly states that all grievances must be filed within 48 hours of the alleged violation.

“The Elections Board has established procedures to manage the way grievances are filed,” the court’s opinion read. “When determining the validity of a grievance, the Elections Board must abide by its own rules and consider whether the grievance was filed within 48-hours of the discovery of the alleged violation.”

The court added that if the Elections Board now feels that the time limit is too short, the body could amend its own rules, but because the rule exists currently, the court felt the need to reverse the Board’s warning and instructed that the violations could not be considered in future decisions.