“They are run by the party,
ours are not, ours are run by
experienced
election
officials
to carry out elections, typically
every year if not every two years.
And we’re not using untested
technology. We’re not expecting
a
similar
scenario
to
what
occurred in Iowa.”
The Michigan primary differs
greatly from the Iowa caucuses.
Instead of going to a corner of the
room to vote for your candidate,
voters go to their local precinct
and cast a ballot for whichever
candidate they support. Voters
in the Michigan primary are
also able to vote with absentee
ballots, allowing for more voters
to take part in the election.
In 2018, a law passed in the
Michigan
state
legislature
granting the right for any eligible
voter to vote by absentee ballot
regardless of reasoning. As of
Feb. 18, over 666,000 absentee
ballots had been distributed,
with a projected number of over
850,000 to be distributed by the
primary date.
LSA
freshman
Andrew
Schaeffler, co-founder of the
University’s chapter of Students
for Biden, expressed his concerns
about absentee ballots.
“I think that the absentee
ballots are definitely going to
be the thing in the Michigan
primary,” Schaeffler said. “That
if we were to have any problem
that’s even similar to Iowa but in
the same context of that.”
The uptick in absentee ballots
has also caused a shift in how
presidential
candidates
have
campaigned in Michigan. Trump
and many Democratic front-
runners have focused on trying
to rally early votes by setting up
campaign offices, phone banking,
door-knocking and other tactics.
Schaeffler
said
former
Vice President Joe Biden, a
Democratic front-runner in the
2020 election, is trying to rally
the early absentee ballot voters.
“I think the Biden campaign
is effectively beginning and
implementing
a
campaign
strategy in Michigan, focusing
on reaching out to voters with
their absentee ballots currently,”
Shaeffler said. “Making these
initial connections has been
integral. Our club, in conjunction
with Biden volunteers, have
made thousands of calls to
Michiganders and folks in other
states,
making
direct
voter
contact.”
Other political student groups
like Students for Warren, College
Republicans and Students for
Bernie did not reply to requests
for comment.
While an increased number
of voters for the primary isn’t
expected, the rise in absentee
ballots is projected to put more
of a burden on clerks across the
state. Since clerks aren’t allowed
to start collecting results until 7
a.m. on the day of the primary,
many
clerks
said
they
are
worried about not getting the
results in quickly enough.
Jacqueline Beaudry, a city
clerk in Ann Arbor, spoke to
The Daily about how the city
is dealing with the influx of
absentee ballots.
“We have actually doubled
the number of counting boards
for this election compared to the
March 2016 (election),” Beaudry
said. “So we are obviously in
support, moving into November,
of any reforms that would allow
us to start processing earlier or
to extend the time to process
ballots. But, in terms of March,
we’ve doubled our workforce
and our number of tabulators to
count the ballots.”
Though Ann Arbor is just
one city that has hired more
workers to deal with the influx
of absentee ballots this year, the
state is working to make sure all
precincts can efficiently count
the ballots in a timely manner,
Rollow said.
“Our goal is to count all
ballots accurately and to provide
results,” Rollow said. “We’re
working
with
clerks
across
the state to help them have
the resources they need to do
their job. We’ve also called on
the legislature to request they
be allowed to at least start
processing absentee ballots prior
to the Election Day.”
LSA junior Carolyn Chen, field
organizer for the University of
Michigan’s chapter of College
Democrats, is responsible for
getting people registered to vote.
Chen said waiting for results is
acceptable if it means greater
accuracy in the vote calculations.
“I don’t think it was a huge
deal that people had to wait for
the results. If that’s gonna get
you an accurate answer, then
just wait it out,” Chen said. “I
feel like I don’t go into elections
expecting
everything
to
go
perfectly anyway.”
Logan
Woods,
Rackham
student and secretary for Turnup
Turnout,
an
organization
dedicated to getting students
registered to vote, spoke about
the importance of making sure
all elections are secure, no matter
if it’s a primary or a caucus.
“The
benefit
of
(having
primaries and caucuses) within
states is that states, counties or
towns and cities, can tailor their
elections to what works best
for their community,” Woods
said. “The election system’s
commissioner is bipartisan. I
know that within states, all of the
local election officials that I’ve
spoken with, regardless of their
party, have been professional and
helpful, and they want elections
to run smoothly. They want votes
and voting machines to be secure
and to work properly.”
With the primary coming up
in 16 days, voters and election
officials alike are continuing to
prepare to make the primary day
run smoothly and efficiently.
“We’ve
done
numerous
things to ensure that our
elections are safe,” Rollow said.
“And we do that because of the
importance of elections and
also because we want voters
to feel what they should feel,
which is absolute confidence
that their voice matters and
their vote will be counted.”
Daily Reporter Julia Forrest
can be reached at juforres@
umich.edu.
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Tuesday, February 25, 2020 — 3
OFFICE HOURS
From Page 1
“While we weren’t kicked
out, we did sort of have
this
overcrowding
issue
because my office hours were
coincidentally at the same
time as another EECS 203 IA’s
(office hours),” Robinson said.
“We were sharing this really
small space that was barely
enough for a single office
hour, and there were so many
students there that we were
told we posed a fire hazard.”
On Feb. 5, a week after they
had made the change from the
basement to the Design Lab,
Robinson was pulled aside by
UGLi staff during his office
hours.
“When I was giving office
hours, UGLi staff took me away
and told me that basically I
was getting kicked out of the
UGLi,” Robinson said. “They
showed me the printed copy of
the email that had supposedly
been sent out to the EECS
department.”
A copy of the email was
provided to The Daily by
Stephen
Griffes,
senior
manager in library operations.
Griffes sent the email to Brian
Noble,
chair
of
Computer
Science
and
Engineering;
Seth Pettie, associate chair
and professor of Electrical
Engineering
and
Computer
Science; Mingyan Liu, Peter
and
Evelyn
Fuss
chair
of
Electrical
and
Computer
Engineering;
and
Dennis
Sylvester,
associate
chair
and professor of Electrical
Engineering
and
Computer
Science on Jan. 31.
The email requested that
for any courses planned for
the future, the library should
not be listed as a location and
current office hours or related
sessions must be relocated.
The email noted the main
reason office hours cannot be
held in the library is because
the library is not certified for
classroom use.
“The
Library
has
not
approved the use of library
space for any scheduled office
hours to take place, and the
Library is not Bureau of Fire
Services (BFS) certified to
hold class sessions in our
buildings, such as the ones
taking place in the Shapiro
basement study space,” Griffes
wrote in the email. “Since we
do not have BFS certification,
we are in violation of safety
and fire codes every time your
classes advertise their hours.
On Monday night, there was
a large class of 30 students in
this space.”
The
email
specifically
mentioned that EECS office
hours violated the fire code,
and IAs were never given
permission to hold office hours
in the UGLi.
“When library staff informed
the GSI that we do not permit
classes in our open study
spaces, the GSI, who indicated
they were from the EECS
department, said that they had
permission
from
professors
Volkovich and Kamil to use
the Library to host this class,”
the email continued. “No such
permission has been granted.
Even when it is a smaller group
of students receiving office
hours tutoring and instruction,
the cumulative effect violates
the fire code.”
In an email to The Daily,
Liu confirmed Noble sent an
email to all Computer Science
Engineering faculty on Feb.
3 after receiving the initial
complaint.
Noble wrote to The Daily
that the issue was resolved
because he spoke to Kati Bauer,
interim chief operating officer
of the Duderstadt Center, who
confirmed that office hours
could be held at the Duderstadt.
However,
Bauer
responded
saying she only spoke for the
Duderstadt, not the UGLi.
Before the incident at the
UGLi, Robinson had never seen
the email, even though it was
about his office hours.
“This has already been out
for nearly a week,” Robinson
said. “I was unaware of this,
this was not sent to the actual
IAs ... the first time that I had
heard this was when UGLi staff
came over to me.”
Rebecca Dunkle, associate
librarian
for
Library
Operations, said the purpose
of the library is not for office
hours.
“The library is open to
everybody, but we get a lot
of
requests
from
different
departments from faculty to
GSIs, to see if they have office
space for them to see if they
can have conversations with
their students, and we don’t
have enough space for them,”
Dunkle said. “We understand
they need space, but the library
can’t provide that kind of space
for the departments.”
LSA
sophomore
Harry
Fu is an EECS 203: Discrete
Mathematics
IA
and
had
coinciding office hours with
Robinson. He also expressed
frustration with the limits on
capacity.
“For my office hours, I get
anywhere between 40 and 60
people,” Fu said. “I think the
Design Lab and the library is
supposed to be a tiny, quiet
space — that really causes an
issue with the people that are
trying to make sure the library
stays what a library should be.”
Though Fu is sad about the
loss of office hours at the UGLi,
he said he understands why
they were kicked out.
“It’s inconvenient for me,
but I can’t really blame them
for kicking me out,” Fu said.
“It is loud, and it is somewhat
disruptive,
and
it’s
just
a
function of so many people.”
Baker echoed this sentiment.
“I, 100 percent, agree with
them and their safety concerns
and us taking up a ridiculous
amount of space,” Baker said. “I
think that given the resources
they’re provided with, the IAs
are doing their best to combat
that.”
After
leaving
the
UGLi,
Robinson said IAs had to look
for alternative locations to hold
their office hours on Central
Campus.
He said that some were
holding office hours in the
Math Atrium and Fishbowl,
however, not all transitions
were that easy. Robinson noted
that another IA he knew had a
difficult time finding an office
hour location.
“Another
location
we
tried was the IdeaHub in the
(Michigan) Union,” Robinson
said. “We were kicked out of
the IdeaHub. They moved to
the connector between Union
and West Quad.”
Baker said he experienced
this uncertainty in locations as
his class was constantly being
asked to move.
“They’re being forced to
move
around
to
different
places, which shortens their
office hours, and they’re able
to help fewer kids than they
would be if the CS department
had
a
little
foresight
and
booked a room somewhere,”
Baker said.
Without a set room location,
Baker said he sees this issue
happening again in the future.
Baker said if they don’t have
access
to
announcements
through
Piazza,
an
online
chatroom
for
many
EECS
classes, then people wouldn’t
know where to go.
“A lot of the time, it’s hard to
communicate that to everyone,
in real-time, because they don’t
have a plan, they just move
from place to place,” Baker
said.
Fu said there’s a delineation
between the abilities of a
student organization and an
IA.
Student
organizations
are eligible to book rooms on
Central Campus, while IAs
have the same booking rights
as a normal student. However,
the study rooms he is able to
book as a student, he said, are
not large enough to fit the
number of students who attend
his office hours.
“As IAs, we don’t have
the same power as a student
organization, so we don’t have
the right to reserve study
rooms,” Fu said. “The study
rooms that typical students can
reserve are not big enough to
sustain the 60 people that come
to my office hours.”
Bauer clarified that office
hours can still be held at the
Duderstadt basement and that
the basement is separated from
University Libraries.
“We’ve talked it over —
we have spaces where it’s
appropriate
to
hold
office
hours, and we’re more than
willing to let folks do that,”
Bauer said. “The one email
message that went out was
from
librarians
and
they
have a part of the Duderstadt
Center, but they are not the
entire Duderstadt Center, so
they can’t represent the entire
building. We certainly don’t
have any problems with them
being held as long as they are
not
mandatory.
Mandatory
office hours are more like a
class, and our building is not
certified for classes through
the state.”
Even though North Campus
is open for office hours, Fu said
many students prefer Central
Campus office hours. Fu said
he tries to keep his office
hours on Central Campus to
make them more accessible to
students who need help.
“It’s a lot more convenient
for (students) to go to Central
(Campus) office hours, and the
class is already hard enough as
it is, and I want to make sure
that the students know that
we’re there for them and we’re
there to work through the class
together,” Fu said.
Dinka said he hopes these
newfound solutions on Central
Campus are long-lasting and
office hours do not move to
North Campus.
“It’s ridiculous that EECS
wouldn’t have office hours on
Central Campus considering
that’s
where
most
people
live,” Dinka said. “It’s a huge
inconvenience
taking
time
out of your day going all the
way up to North Campus, and
of course, North Campus will
be just a bit more crowded at
certain points of the day, too,
because of it.”
Some students The Daily
spoke to attributed the inability
to find spaces to house office
hours to the growth in the
number of students majoring in
computer science. With more
students in the course, there
will be more students attending
office hours, which requires a
large space to accommodate all
the students
With the spike in EECS
enrollment,
students
are
beginning to become frustrated
with more issues than spaces.
In a different project-focused
course, Baker said he sat in
office hours for a total of five
hours and was helped twice. He
also said he was disappointed
in the inability to register for
classes he wants to take, and
instead has to register for the
classes left over.
“If they can’t properly make
arrangements for the number
of students they have in the
CS program, then they need to
find new ways to cap it,” Baker
said. “They can’t keep taking
our $60,000 and not be able to
provide us with the resources
that they say they are going to
provide us with.”
However, Fu doesn’t believe
the situation should be solely
attributed to over-enrollment.
“In a way, you can attribute
it to that, but I think it’s really
hard to address a problem of
over-enrollment because I feel
like the alternative is denying
people that want to pursue
a career that they love the
chance to do it,” Fu said.
According
to
the
CSE
department, the number of
students that enrolled in a
CS-Engineering degree in Fall
2010 was 317. In Fall 2018, the
enrollment was 1219.
Joanna
Millunchick,
associate
dean
for
undergraduate education for
the College of Engineering,
said they are trying to find
solutions to the space issue,
but they do not want to cap the
program at a certain number
of students because it leaves
interested students out.
“We can’t limit the number
of students that want to do this,
because then where are they
going to go?” Millunchick said.
“We’re also trying to create
other avenues and awareness
about other avenues. … We’re
looking
closely
at
other
ways for students to be able
to get degrees that are still
meaningful to them.”
To help alleviate the office
hours problem, Millunchink
said that she would be open
to
having
the
department
rent spaces for office hours,
and noted that the new Ford
Robotics Building being built
on North Campus will provide
more classroom spaces for
students.
“We’ve got to get these
students places where they can
study and hold office hours,”
Millunchink said. “I’m willing
to do that.”
Reporter Francesca Duong
can be reached at fduong@
umich.edu.
PRIMARY
From Page 1