N

obody should have to choose 

between their vote and 

their health, but Wisconsin 

voters faced this decision due to 

reckless and politically-motivated 

actions taken by the Republican 

Party and a complicit United States 

Supreme Court. 

As 
COVID-19 
forces 
stay-at-

home orders and social distancing, 

numerous states have postponed 

their primary elections in the name 

of public health. This is the right 

decision. Having people leave their 

homes in the middle of a pandemic 

and gather en masse at polling places, 

interacting with others and touching 

shared surfaces, is clearly a recipe 

for disaster. 

In order to protect his constituents, 

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers tried to 

postpone the state’s primary election 

until June. However, the GOP had 

other plans.

The GOP sued to keep the April 

7 election date, taking the case all 

the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

In a five to four ideological split, 

the conservative justices voted to 

allow the election to be held on the 

original date. Justice Ruth Bader 

Ginsberg, joined by the other three 

liberal justices, dissented, saying 

that continuing to hold the election 

“will result in massive 

disenfranchisement.”

This 

disenfranchisement 

of voters was clear 

during Election Day. 

Fears over COVID-

19 led to a shortage 

of poll workers and 

widespread 
poll 

closures. Milwaukee, 

a diverse city with 

about 
600,000 

residents, had their 

usual 
180 
polling 

places reduced to just five. This 

led to hours-long lines with people 

having to wait outside during bouts 

of rain and hail. Overall turnout was 

down significantly from 49 percent 

in the 2016 primary to 31 percent. 

This lower turnout can in part be 

attributed to only one party having 

a 
competitive 
primary, 
but 
the 

influence of COVID-19 can also not 

be overlooked.

Though Wisconsin has no-excuse 

absentee voting, which allows people 

to vote via mail instead of in-person 

and is one of the most promising 

ways to vote during a pandemic, 

Wisconsin’s system has many issues. 

Some voters did not receive their 

absentee ballots despite requesting 

them. Another major issue was 

that the appeals court upheld a 

requirement that every person who 

submits an absentee ballot must have 

a witness sign their ballot before it 

can be returned. For people who are 

self-isolating or live alone, this can 

be a major barrier to voting. 

The inability for some people 

to vote was not a coincidence, 

it was a coordinated strategy to 

disenfranchise 
certain 
voters. 

COVID-19 is mostly concentrated in 

the urban areas in Wisconsin, such 

as Milwaukee. Therefore, many of 

the less diverse suburban and rural 

areas did not experience the same 

poll closures and fears compared to 

the larger, more diverse cities. It is 

evident that holding the in-person 

election was a thinly veiled action 

on the part of the state GOP to 

disenfranchise diverse voters who 

overwhelmingly support Democrats.

The 
most 
important 
race 
on 

the ballot was not the Democratic 

primary, instead, it was a Wisconsin 

state Supreme Court race. There is 

currently a lawsuit pending before 

the court about a move by the state 

legislature 
to 
purge 
more 
than 

200,000 voters from the voter rolls. 

The decision will have repercussions 

for the 2020 election, given that 

President 
Donald 
Trump 
won 

Wisconsin by exactly one percent in 

2016. The purging of the voter rolls 

is a move by the GOP to help Trump 

and once again disenfranchise young 

people and minorities. Wisconsin 

voters 
clearly 
understood 
the 

importance of this race, as they 

elected the Democratic 

judicial candidate in a 

shocking upset. 

As 
infuriating 
and 

saddening as it was to 

witness this blatant act 

of 
voter 
suppression, 

it was still inspiring to 

see 
voters 
determined 

to exercise their basic 

rights. These were people 

who 
were 
willing 
to 

struggle for their vote. 

They were willing to 

stand for hours in the 

rain and the hail. They were willing 

to put their own safety at risk all to 

exercise their right to vote. 

However, there is something that 

we all can learn from this. So often 

when I talk to people on campus about 

voting, they say it is too hard or too 

complicated. We don’t know “hard.” 

“Hard” is knowing that you can either 

put your life at risk and go to the polls 

or stay home but allow the fraudulent 

election of a judge who may take away 

your right to vote. Going to the polls 

took courage. So many people in this 

country and around the world cannot 

vote, but they would — and often do — 

risk it all for that right. 

So the next time there is an election 

and you aren’t sure if you want to 

take the time to vote, think about 

the people who went to the polls in 

Wisconsin. Let their courage inspire 

you to participate in our democracy in 

a way that many people cannot.

4A — Wednesday, April 15, 2020
Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Alanna Berger
Zack Blumberg

Brittany Bowman
Emily Considine
Jess D’Agostino

Jenny Gurung
Cheryn Hong
Krystal Hur
Ethan Kessler
Zoe Phillips
Mary Rolfes

Michael Russo
Timothy Spurlin
Miles Stephenson

Joel Weiner
Erin White 

ERIN WHITE
Managing Editor

Stanford Lipsey Student Publications Building

420 Maynard St. 

Ann Arbor, MI 48109

 tothedaily@michigandaily.com

ELIZABETH LAWRENCE

Editor in Chief

EMILY CONSIDINE AND 

MILES STEPHENSON

Editorial Page Editors

Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of The Daily’s Editorial Board. 

All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors.

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS

ISABELLE SCHINDLER | COLUMN

The sacred vote

Isabelle Schindler can be reached at 

ischind@umich.edu.

T

he coronavirus pandemic 

began as a murmur of 

distant 
contagion. 

Like many other newsworthy 

tragedies, it seems unreal and 

somehow unthreatening until 

it happens to you. The world 

has been shocked by a wave 

of uncertainty. People were 

ripped from their comfortable 

nooks of life and normalcy 

with no warning, no time to 

process. As a student on the 

big, bustling University of 

Michigan campus, my daily 

routine has shifted largely. 

However, 
I’ve 
chosen 
to 

develop a positive perspective 

on my new reality — a decision 

I know is a privilege not 

everyone has the opportunity 

to make in this unprecedented 

time. My routine can continue, 

and 
there 
are 
even 
new 

possibilities that were not 

available to me in Ann Arbor 

(beyond that of quality New 

Jersey bagels and access to 

Wawa coffee). I’ve found peace 

in a new perspective and the 

prospect of technology. 

With stay-at-home orders 

restricting many from leaving 

their 
homes, 
it 
becomes 

increasingly challenging to 

make days feel anything but 

mundane. It was not until a 

week ago that I realized the 

importance of something I had 

completely 
underestimated 

the 
role 
of 
throughout 

quarantine: 
technology. 
I 

would like to recognize that 

this is not a luxury enjoyed 

by all. This, however, made 

my realization even stronger: 

We need technology not only 

for ourselves but especially 

for individuals without the 

opportunities and resources 

we so often take for granted. 

Zoom, BlueJeans, Google 

Hangouts and more video 

platforms have become the 

new classrooms for countries 

across the globe. Without 

technology, this would not 

be possible. While there is 

undeniably a difference in 

learning through my computer 

screen in my pajamas, I still 

have the opportunity to learn 

from professors I’ve grown 

comfortable listening to over 

a semester’s worth of work. I 

am grateful for the chance to 

continue my education even 

if the circumstances are a bit 

unorthodox. I unexpectedly 

find myself longing for lecture 

halls yet remain grateful for 

the familiar vibrato of my 

professors’ voices through a 

time where nearly everything 

else is uncharted territory. Not 

only school but work, too, has 

been transitioned to remote 

operations — an unthinkable 

feat without solid WiFi and 

access to internet software. 

Despite being isolated to 

a house with only my mom, 

my dad and my dog, I have 

the ability to regularly talk 

to my sister in Nashville, 

Tennessee, and my brother 

in a house around the corner. 

Technology 
has 
presented 

us with the possibility to 

continue 
conversing 
with 

friends, family and colleagues. 

My four-year-old niece has 

learned to ask us to “Zoom 

her” and my family regularly 

conducts games over different 

video chat rooms. Moving out 

of a constantly occupied dorm 

building to a home occupied 

by three people has felt much 

livelier than anticipated. With 

everyone 
experiencing 
this 

pandemic 
simultaneously, 

it seems communication is 

actually more common now 

than before our lives were 

essentially 
paused 
until 

further 
notice. 
The 
sheer 

possibility of communicating 

with the outside world — 

family, friends and beyond 

— helps to keep potential 

loneliness and the inevitable 

stir-craziness at bay. 

The routine I had grown 

so 
comfortable 
replicating 

day after day may have been 

taken away from me. My trips 

to the University of Michigan 

Museum of Art cafe may now 

be trips down the stairs to my 

Keurig, but I am grateful to be 

able to adapt my perspective to 

the new circumstances around 

me. It is this adaptation that 

I encourage you to focus on. 

The space around us can 

be refocused to provide the 

different sectors of our lives 

a temporary substitute for 

the musty tables in Hatcher 

Graduate Library and a Friday 

night trip to Frita Batidos. 

While I yearn for my daily 

walks 
to 
CityRow, 
I 
am 

thankful for the unbelievable 

camaraderie 
demonstrated 

by 
fitness 
apps 
and 

instructors everywhere. Free 

memberships and Instagram/

Facebook Live have provided 

people the opportunity to 

continue to exercise, dance, 

sing and even act from the 

comfort (and safety) of their 

homes. 
In 
lieu 
of 
movie 

theater 
releases, 
movies 

have been streamed online 

and 
uploaded 
to 
different 

streaming 
networks. 
The 

world has adapted and molded 

to fit this new technological 

way of life. 

While all of these uses 

of 
technology 
and 
social 

media platforms are arguably 

incredible adaptations to a 

social-distancing 
lifestyle, 

it is the access to news and 

applications 
that 
augment 

safety measures that stand 

out 
amid 
the 
coronavirus 

pandemic. Being informed on 

the latest news is imperative 

to navigate this crisis in the 

safest 
and 
most 
effective 

way to “flatten the curve.” 

Additionally, 
apps 
like 

Instacart 
allow 
people 
to 

avoid grocery stores and thus 

avoid 
potentially 
infecting 

others or themselves. 

Though I encourage people 

to continue to go outside safely 

and avoid an overwhelming 

amount of screen time, it 

has been reassuring to find 

something positive amid a 

very negative time in history. 

Without technology, life truly 

would be paused for everyone, 

but instead, we have found a 

way to adapt to this new, much 

smaller world available to 

each of us, albeit much more 

virtually than ever before. In 

the absence of The Michigan 

Daily paper to hold, we have 

continued to write and publish 

to our virtual platform. With 

my regular morning coffee, 

my phone acts as a substitute 

for the paper I know I will 

someday hold again. For now, 

I’m happy to report that my 

phone will suffice.

The transition to life online

JESS D’AGOSTINO | COLUMN

Jess D’Agostino can be reached at 

jessdag@umich.edu.

Fears over 
COVID-
19 led to a 

shortage of poll 

workers and 
widespread 
poll closures.

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