Student Government Trial Court Judge Daniel Marsh ruled in favor of the StudentsFIRST ticket in all three cases concerning Election Code violations Monday and Tuesday. Marsh said he couldn’t hear much of the evidence because it was publicly available more than two days before the complaint was filed, which violates election code. “It was not an easy decision to come to,” Marsh said. “I have tried to step back from this as much as possible. This was a very difficult decision to make because a lot about it seems unfair.”Leading the Way candidates Brooksie Bonvillain and Chris Sellers filed a complaint Monday against StudentsFIRST candidates J Hudson and Dani Borel for breaches of the election code. The complaint accused StudentsFIRST candidates of breaching rules prohibiting candidates from being cross-listed on multiple tickets and operating on an unrecognized ticket. Sellers presented information including receipts, expenditure reports, Facebook statuses and both an opinion piece and an advertisement published in The Daily Reveille as evidence of Geauxing the Distance and StudentsFIRST working together.”StudentsFIRST and Geauxing the Distance essentially merged into one ticket and were able to derive all the benefits of being a ticket without following any of the rules for the organization of one,” Sellers said.He also said the two campaigns should have maintained their individual ticket affiliations rather than mutually trying to beat Leading the Way.Borel, Hudson and co-counsel Chris Cummings argued against Sellers, Bonvillain and co-counsel Drew Prestridge’s claims. Borel cited several parts of the election code supporting their claims of running independent campaigns.”Basically we followed the rules,” Hudson said. “Everything that was in the election code, we did not violate. That’s one of the major misconceptions.”He said the only piece of evidence Sellers, Bonvillain and Prestridge could officially use were the expenditure reports, and Hudson said they proved they did not overspend or work with Geauxing the Distance.Marsh also previously heard the second case, which was between Hudson and Borel and Speaker of the Senate Tyler Martin and College of Arts and Sciences Sen. Drew Prestridge on Monday night. Marsh continued the case Tuesday morning, but adjourned until Tuesday night because of class conflicts.Borel said the mistakes were made because she and Hudson followed specific instructions on how to fill out expenditure reports from Commissioner of Elections Alexis Sarver.”No ticket would specifically go against the instructions of the commissioner of elections,” Borel said. “We didn’t gain any advantages.”Trial Court previously heard the second case Tuesday at 3:15 p.m. Marsh ruled with Hudson and Borel, saying Martin’s argument “has no bearing.”The accusations Martin brought against Hudson were interpreted through general application rather than being explicitly stated, according to Marsh.The first case on Monday involved Hudson challenging the Election Board’s disqualification of StudentsFIRST candidates.Trial Court ruled to instate candidates who had been formerly disqualified from the StudentsFIRST campaign Monday in the first case, Election Board vs. StudentsFIRST candidates.In the next few days, the University Court will decide whether or not to hear the Election Board’s case because they appealed Marsh’s decision in the case. Both parties from Hudson vs. Martin and Hudson vs. Bonvillain reserve the right to appeal to University Court 24 hours after Marsh’s decision. –Contact Catherine Threlkeld at [email protected]