Rulings of the Hearings Officer

1. The Hearings Officer may issue supplemental rulings elaborating or clarifying the election guidelines as specified in the Code.

2. All proposed rulings shall be posted in a public place by the Hearings Officer. Each candidate, slate, and sponsor shall be notified as to where these rulings shall be posted before any ruling is posted. All candidates, slates, and sponsors shall be assumed to have read the ruling within twenty-four hours after its posting.

3. In making these rulings it is expected that the Hearings Officer shall inform either the Elections Commissioner, the Hearings Committee, the Senate Administration and Rules committee, or the Senate chair.

4. Although the Hearings Committee shall not be bound by these rulings, they shall give them substantial weight and shall, in conjunction with the provisions of the Code, consider violations of them grounds for disqualification.

5. The Hearings Officer is the only officer of the Association empowered to offer official advice to candidates, slates, and sponsors on matters pertaining to the Code. Such advice shall be posted as a ruling unless the Hearings Officer determines that either the advice offered was of minor importance and lacked general interest or such a posting to be a violation of confidentiality.