 “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

