Dixie Allen of Vernal, Debra Roberts of Beaver and Edward Dalton of Erda - all incumbent school board members - will be allowed to seek re-election, Judge Timothy Hanson ruled. A fourth disqualified school board candidate, Tod Tesar of Vernal, already has declared himself a write-in candidate.

"I'm happy with the outcome," Dalton said after a hearing in 3rd District Court in Salt Lake City. "It encourages people to remain interested in the election process."

Roberts, like Dalton and Allen, expressed relief after hearing Hanson's ruling. It was the right thing to do, Roberts said, because it made "giving voters choice" a priority.

Her comments in essence summarized Hanson's remarks.

Allowing the trio to be reinstated as candidates despite their missteps complies with the spirit of election law, the judge said. In the end, "the more choice we [voters] have, the better our decisions will be."

While the judge emphasized that election filing deadlines are important and said each candidate erred in some way, he said attorney Josh Reid presented sufficient evidence to show "substantial compliance" with filing requirements.

Reid said Allen and Roberts both filed financial disclosures with the Lieutenant Governor's Office electronically, and neither realized there were problems with their filings until they received notices on Sept. 18 saying they had been disqualified for failure to file.

He said Dalton in the past always has relied on receiving a postcard from elections officials reminding him of approaching filing deadlines. This year he received no such reminder, and moved to file his form as soon as he learned he had not filed on time.

Neither Allen nor Dalton received any campaign contributions. Roberts reported about $500 in donations to her campaign.

Reid emphasized that all three candidates worked earnestly to rectify the problem once they knew it existed. "There was no delay in the public's ability to receive any of this information," he added.

Representing the Lieutenant Governor's Office, Assistant Utah Attorney General Thom Roberts said elections officials did what the law requires them to do when they disqualified the trio. He said state law makes it clear candidates must comply with filing deadlines and does not obligate elections officials to remind candidates of the requirements. But Roberts also said the law allows for a judge to reverse disqualifications in certain instances.

The three candidates' names can be put back on the ballot without "undue expense," he said.