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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, March 11, 2020 — 3A

LINES
From Page 1A

DONATIONS
From Page 2A

Tuesday’s primary, issued a
statement in a press release
condemning long lines to vote.

“At a time when Democrats

correctly attack Republicans
for voter suppression, it is
disappointing to see people
standing in long lines for
hours today waiting to vote
in Michigan and around the
country,” Sanders said in the
statement. “People should not
have to miss a day of work to
exercise their right to vote.
This is an outrage. Election
officials must address these
problems immediately, and if
necessary, keep polling places
open longer.”

Mitra said he wished there

were more locations to register
in Ann Arbor to reduce the
length of the lines.

Many University of Michigan

students in line said they were
willing to wait because they
feel their vote matters more
in Michigan than in their
home state, given its status as
a swing state. The University
of Michigan-Ann Arbor has
an out of state population
of nearly 15,000, as of 2019.
President Donald Trump won
Michigan by just over 10,000
votes in 2016.

Engineering senior Viktoriya

Kovalchuk had been waiting in
line to register for more than an
hour by the time she got inside
the building. She said those in
line were given the registration

forms so they could begin
filling them out.

Kovalchuk
emphasized

the importance of voting and
said she wanted to change
her registration to Michigan
because it is a swing state.

“It’s worth it,” Kovalchuk

said. “I know Michigan is
a swing state, and I’m from
Arizona, and it’s not a swing
state. So, I’d rather vote here. …
(The wait time) is not ideal, but
I think it’s worth it in the end.
It’s a priority for me to vote,
and I just became a citizen
recently.”

Business
freshman
Grace

Manella recently turned 18
and voted for the first time on
Tuesday. She said she chose to
register in Michigan instead of
her home state of Kentucky.

“I think it’s important to

vote
because
it’s
exciting

that, when you’re younger,
everyone’s voting and you can’t
really
participate,”
Manella

said. “I feel like once you can,
you have this kind of civic duty
where you feel like you should.
It’s exciting to kind of feel like
you’re a part of the system.”

LSA senior Danielle Boilen

previously
voted
with
an

absentee
ballot
from
New

York but chose to register in
Michigan for this election.

“I did absentee when I voted

in the last election, and I think
it’s awesome that I can register
here on the day of,” Boilen said.
“I think that’s a great thing
that Michigan does.”

Rackham student Amanda

Peiffer said she originally got

in the line to register to vote
but only needed to vote. She
said she wished there were
more workers at City Hall to
help the large crowd navigate.

“I
think
that
everyone

should be able to vote, but I
think that this is nuts that the
line is astronomical. It’s just
another polling place that does
not run correctly. I think this is
why a lot of people don’t vote.
… We need more staff,” Peiffer
said. “There’s just clearly not
enough people working. People
are talking about online voting.
I think that’d be awesome.
I
think
about
the
people

getting sick and stuff with the
coronavirus. How are they
going to vote?”

LSA senior Teddy Kiernan

came to City Hall to change
his ballot from Independent to
Democrat. This is the second
presidential election he has
been able to vote in.

“My first election I voted in

was the general election 2016
for the president,” Kiernan
said. “Beyond that, I haven’t
participated
in
any
other

elections. … Between the two
options (in 2016), I wasn’t
thrilled with either. I’m hoping
to vote for one person here that
can stand a fighting chance in
the general election.”

News Editors Alex Harring

and Emma Stein can be reached
at
harring@umich.edu
and

enstein@umich.edu.
Reporter

Brayden Hirsch can be reached
at braydenh@umich.edu.

Mary Heinen, co-founder of

the Prison Creative Arts Project
at the University of Michigan,
spoke
from
experience
at

“Green
Decarceration:
The

Intersection of Environmental
Justice and Criminal Justice
Reform” on Tuesday. When
Heinen
was
incarcerated,

prison guards told her that
properties 100 miles around
the prison would not sell
because the water was toxic.

“If you got a cup of water and

tried to make a cup of coffee,
you can see oil on the top of it
and little white crystals in it,”
Heinen said. “And there were
warnings in the visiting room:
don’t drink the water, and if
you’re pregnant, really don’t
drink the water. But you knew,
I’m drinking this, I’m bathing
in this, my clothes are being
washed in this. You knew you
were in trouble.”

About 30 students, faculty

and
community
members

attended the event as a part
of Earth Day festivities taking
place
at
Michigan
League

Tuesday
afternoon.
Nora

Krinitsky, Interim Director
of the Prison Creative Arts
Project, led the teach-in, and
speakers included Heinen and
Josh Hoe, policy analyst for
the non-profit Safe and Just
Michigan. Krinitsky said the
climate crisis and the carceral
system
are
critical
issues

facing society and younger
generations.

“Those are two very big,

complicated
problems
that

can feel really overwhelming
when you’re kind of looking
at them as an individual,”
Krinitsky said. “What that
means is that both of them
are going to require big social
movements in order to make
really significant change.”

Heinen spoke about her

experience
going
through

Michigan’s prison system for
decades as she served a three
back-to-back life sentences.
As she was transferred from
prison to prison, she said poor
conditions were a common
theme.
In
the
now-closed

Florence Crane Correctional
Facility, Heinen said women
often
died
from
obscure

medical conditions related to
the toxic water.

“As time went on, lifers that

I was friends with had really
severe headaches. You’d have
a period for two months,”
Heinen said. “They had women
who had strokes, they had

tumors, they had rare cancers.
The generation before me, who
were there when I arrived, one
by one by one those women
died.”

LSA senior Taylor Luthe

came to the teach-in with a
personal connection to the
criminal
justice
movement.

Luthe said her mother was
incarcerated when she was a
child, and she had to step out
of the room for a moment after
Heinen shared her emotional
experiences.

“These people, like she was

saying, were her sisters and
the people that she essentially
grew up with while she was
inside and were her family,”
Luthe said. “Just the blatant
disregard for humanity and
seeing that come through in
what she was speaking about,
and also imagining my mom in
that situation, imagining these
horrible
things
happening

to the people that I love was
hard.”

Hoe
spoke
to
specific

connections
between
the

criminal justice movement and
climate movement. He said
heat, diseases and poor water
quality, in particular, affect
prisoners disproportionately.

“Prisons are the zero point

of a lot of this climate change
stuff,” Hoe said. “Mobility is
what allows you to adapt to
climate change, and you can’t
adapt if you can’t move, and
you can’t adapt if you can’t
build or do any of the things
that are necessary to protect
yourself.”

Engineering
senior

Charlie
Gerard
told
The

Daily after the event that he
appreciated
learning
more

about the criminal justice
movement
from
Hoe,
but

said
the
connection
with

environmental justice felt like
a stretch.

“Obviously,
there
are

unfortunate cases as well, but
generally if you’re in prison,
you did something wrong and
you’re there for punishment,”
Gerard
said.
“Maybe
the

climate has an adverse effect,
but I don’t think that’s a reason
to remove people from prison.”

As an example of the direct

impact climate change has on
prisoners, Hoe told the story
of Shawna Lynn Jones, one of
many California prisoners paid
low wages to fight wildfires.
Hoe said Jones became the
first firefighter to die in 2016
when a boulder hit and killed
her.

“She
was
22-years-old

and only three months from

release, and she was getting
paid basically nothing to go
out and risk her life to fight
fires for a state full of people
who didn’t want her to be part
of their community,” Hoe said.

Luthe said she was angry

when she heard Jones’s story,
particularly because she said
formerly incarcerated people
often cannot apply the skills
they learned in prison once
they are released back into
society.

“I
think
(Hoe)
was

absolutely correct when he
called it exploitation,” Luthe
said. “It’s just blatant disregard
for human life. … I think it’s
absolutely horrendous that you
could put your life on the line
so that other firefighters who
have not been incarcerated
don’t have to do that. And yet
you are not welcomed in … you
have these skills, but you’re
not able to use them.”

Matthew Lassiter, assistant

history professor, said he’s
noticed
racial
disparities

between
the
student

environmental and criminal
justice movements in his 20
years at the University.

“Environmental
activism

has
largely
tended
to
be

white
students,”
Lassiter

said.
“They’re
really
good

on issues of environmental
racism,
environmental

justice,
environmental

sustainability, but it’s often
centered around PITE and the
School of Environment and
Sustainability … It’s a different
crowd than when you go to
a mass incarceration event
and see a lot more African
American students and people
of color there. To me, these
issues are very intertwined
and
that’s
something
this

teach-in can emphasize.”

After the event, Krinitsky

commented
on
the
broad

impact of criminal justice and
environmental justice.

“These are both movements

that touch you even if you
don’t know it yet,” Krinistky
said. “In some ways, it’s a little
bit easier to see that when it
comes to climate justice just
because of where we imagine
the climate to be. One thing
that I say to folks who haven’t
yet worked on decarceration is
that I guarantee you that you
or someone you love is not that
far away from being involved
in the criminal justice system.”

Daily Staff Reporter Calder

Lewis
can
be
reached
at

calderll@umich.edu.

Green Decarceration subject of event hosted by PCAP

CALDER LEWIS
Daily Staff Reporter

Teach-in looks at impact
of climate change in prisons

in America, but I think Joe

Biden believes in America. I
think we need a president who
is going to be the reset button
in our American discourse.”

University
alum
Efos

Idusuye also attended the
Students for Biden watch party
and spoke about his support
for Biden and the need for
unity within the Democratic
party.

“Bernie Sanders and Biden

supporters are on the same
party. I think it’s time for us
to unite,” Idusuye said. “At the
end, we’re all fighting for the
same issues against poverty,
against oppression, and other
issues.”

LSA junior Arden Shapiro

attended a watch party hosted
by Students for Bernie 2020. As
polls began to report Biden’s
large
lead
Tuesday
night,

Shapiro reacted to the results
of the Michigan primary.

“I’m just utterly devastated

for
the
organizers
who

poured
everything
into

this movement … It’s really
frustrating and indicative of
how
fundamentally
flawed

our system is,” Shapiro said.
“I know it’s not over, I’m so
you know, I will make sure
our
members
are
fighting

and phone banking and doing
everything
we
can.
Drive

to Illinois you know next
Tuesday.
We’re
gonna
do

everything we can until you
know the very very, very end.”

Daily Staff Reporter Sarah

Payne
can
be
reached
at

paynesm@umich.edu

BIDEN
From Page 2A

Ann Arbor has been named

the most well-educated city in
the country, with the highest
percentage of people with high
school, associate’s, bachelor’s
and
graduate/professional

degrees, data that suggests
that Warren would likely have
found a captive base of voters
in Ann Arbor.

LSA
senior
Martha

Abrams said she believed
Warren appealed to a lot of
students due to her blend of
progressive politics like those
championed by Sanders and
pragmatic policy initiatives
modeled by Biden.

“Bernie for a lot of people,

I think, especially in the early
months of his campaign …
seemed more like a radical
progressive than I think a lot
of people were prepared for,”
Abrams said. “I think Warren
was
a
more

palatable

candidate. I also definitely
think that having a female
candidate,
especially
one

who’s so deeply experienced
in the political arena, and so
consistent, and a front-runner
always, was really appealing
to a lot of people.”

When analyzing the amount

of individual contributions
in Ann Arbor and by U-M
employees, Sanders finished
in first in both categories. He
received 2,859 contributions
from Ann Arbor residents and
521 contributions from U-M
employees, whereas Warren
received 1,685 contributions
from Ann Arbor residents
and 311 from U-M employees.
Sanders’s campaign has made
a point of relying on smaller-
dollar
contributions
since

2016.

Professor Richard Hall of

the Gerald Ford School of
Public Policy discussed how
individual contributions often
come from the most extreme
ends of each political party.
He explained how Sanders’s
grassroots
campaign

contributions
could
have

significantly helped Sanders
in the Michigan primary.

“I think one thing we know

is that the activists in a party
and including the individual
donors to candidates tend
to be at the extremes … and
(these) tend to be the people
who turnout in primaries,”
Hall said. “There is some
reason to think that that
bodes well for Sanders.”

Rackham student Nathan

John was standing outside
the Union on primary day
campaigning for Sanders. He
said the spirit of Sanders’s
campaign appealed to him.

“I think that Bernie is

running a very grassroots
oriented campaign, and he’s

for me. The reason why I’m
so passionate about him is
that he does not accept money
from billionaires,” John said.
“I think it says that he’s a man
of the people and someone
that people are willing to
get behind. It shows that
we can change politics by
focusing on individuals or not
corporations.”

According to a Michigan

Daily analysis of campaign
finance records, in comparing
Ann Arbor to the state of
Michigan overall, the trends
shift slightly, as the overall
Democratic candidate with
the highest contributions is
Sanders with $802,595.66 in
2019, and former South Bend
Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who
received $730,651.04 in 2019,
before dropping out of the
race in early March. Then,
Warren came in third place
with
$462,177.22
and
Joe

Biden came in fourth with
$408,175.22, both in 2019.

Hall noted that money from

the political establishment
has
been
flooding
into

Biden’s campaign since Super
Tuesday. And with moderates
such as Buttigieg, Biden and
Klobuchar
raising
a
total

of more than $1,270,091.51
in Michigan, it was unclear
which way the results of the
primary would lean up until
the polls closed Tuesday.

Money
doesn’t
always

translate
to
electoral

success. If it did, Sec. Hillary
Clinton would have won the
Michigan primary in 2016.
Clinton raised almost triple
the amount of what Sanders
raised.

At the time, polls predicted

that Hillary Clinton had a
25-point lead over Sanders in
the Michigan Primary. Polling
website
FiveThirtyEight

went as far as predicting
that Clinton had a 99 percent
chance of winning Michigan.
Yet,
Sanders
won
the

Michigan 2016 Democratic
Primary with 49.8 percent
of the votes compared to
Clinton, who received just
48.3 percent of the vote.

As an expert in campaign

finance,
Hall
noted
that

money doesn’t tell the whole
story.
While
funding
is

necessary to enter a national
presidential
race,
Hall

explained that past elections
show throwing money at a
campaign simply isn’t enough
to win.

“It is true that Bloomberg

made a run because he spent
all that money. But in the
end, he lost, you know, pretty
handily,” Hall said. “(Trump
was) outspent by … three or
four of his competitors and
super PACs are spending on
behalf of … Bush and Rubio
in a way they weren’t for
Trump.”

Hall argued that money

doesn’t lead to the big wins
that people imagine.

“It’s not obvious that the

money has a big effect,” Hall
said. “Obviously, you have to
have some money to get in
the race but you know, it’s not
clear how much it matters.”

Additionally,
the

momentum and circumstances
that helped Sanders win in
2016 are not as evident in the
2020 primaries against Joe
Biden. In a New York Times
interview,
Brandon
Dillon,

a former chairman of the
Michigan Democratic Party,
stated that Sanders is no
longer the “novelty” he was
four years ago.

“I know people personally

who voted for Bernie because
they wanted to send a message
to Hillary,” Dillion said in the
interview.

Dillon said people are more

worried about a candidate’s
electability and ability to beat
Trump now.

“People just want to win

because we know who our
opponent is and what he can
do if he gets another four
years,” Dillon continued.

After Warren suspended

her campaign in early March
without endorsing Sanders or
Biden, her voters were torn. In
a rally in Ann Arbor three days
before the primary, Sanders
stated Michigan was the most
important state on the March
11, primaries, urging voters
that the only way to beat the
political establishment was to
vote on Tuesday.

“I
understand
that
Joe

Biden has the support of the
entire political establishment.
I got that,” Sanders said. “But
we have the support of some
of the strongest grassroots
movements in this country,
and I would 100 times over
prefer
to
have
grassroots

support than establishment
support.”

Hall adds that similarly to

Trump, Sanders is raising a
significant amount of money
from individual donors.

“(It’s) just not clear how

much … difference and that’s
going to make (or if) it’s going
to be enough to help him
carry the day … like it did in
Michigan for him four years
ago,” Hall said.

Tuesday’s results affirmed

Hall’s
argument.
Despite

his massive campaign push
in the final weekend and
his hundreds of thousands
of individual contributions,
Sanders’s
grassroots

campaign was not enough for
a victory in Michigan.

Daily Staff Reporter Julia

Fanzeres can be reached at
julfan@umich.edu

DESIGN BY JONATHAN WALSH

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