The validity of part of Student Government’s elections could depend on the interpretation of a single word: “a” versus “the.”

The Student Government (SG) Constitution says all proposed amendments shall be published in the major student publication and made available to the student body within 10 business days before voting begins.

This year, Elections Commissioner True Rains chose the UNF SG website as the major student publication on which to publish the referendums.

Senate President Kaitlin Ramirez and Government Oversight Committee Chair Amanda Wollam** asked if he would postpone elections because the constitutional referendum had not been posted in “the major student publication”** within 10 business days of the election.

He said that the referendums were posted. He was referring to the posting on the SG website.

Rains said, “In my mind, I saw ‘major student publication.’ Our website is run by students…and so that fulfilled the requirement in my mind.”

When asked to interpret whether the UNF SG website constituted as “the major student publication,” Attorney General Matthew Harris said the website fulfills the requirement as “a major student publication.”

Harris said people need to look beyond grammar.

25 students were randomly asked, “In your opinion, what is the major student publication?” One student said MyWings, one said flyers around campus, eight said they didn’t know and 15 of them replied with “Spinnaker.”

Rains made an interpretation request on Oct. 23, three business days before voting began.

When asked if the SG website is the major student publication at UNF, Rains said, “Yes. I don’t see why not.”

Harris responded to the request on Oct. 29, the second day of voting.

In an earlier interview with the Spinnaker, Senator and past SG Attorney General Hailey Guerra said there could absolutely be a conflict of interest if an attorney general was interpreting the law based on loyalty to one person over another.

“The Attorney General has the power to interpret law,” Guerra said. “Automatically whatever their interpretation says, that’s setting precedent.”

She said she would never accuse Harris of having that conflict of interest.

Senate President Kaitlin Ramirez said she believes the Constitution was referring to the Spinnaker specifically.

According to the UNF statement of Institutional Relationship to Spinnaker Media, Spinnaker Media is the official student media of UNF.

Harris said people would usually point to the Spinnaker as a major student publication, but it’s not the only one.

Ramirez said she believes the Constitution does not specifically state the Spinnaker in case [the Spinnaker] changes its name. The nature of “the” is giving flexibility for that. She says this has been the precedence since she has been at UNF.

“The question isn’t about picking the best, it’s just asking if it fulfills the requirement,” Harris said. He said this section has been a part of the Constitution for more than 10 years.

Harris said if the interpretation had said referendums had to be published in the Spinnaker and if Rains didn’t fulfill the requirement, then it would have been a gray area.

He said there was debate over whether or not they would have had to postpone elections or if the ballot measures would have had to be removed. He said he would have had to give a separate interpretation to decide what to do in that situation.

Email Saphara Harrell at [email protected]

*11/10/14 at 6:23 p.m. – Updated with new interviews of True Rains and students.

**11/14/14 at 5:48 a.m. – Name attributed to position.

**11/14/14 at 5:48 a.m. – Due to an editor’s error, the platform in which the referendums were published needed to be generalized.