University of Michigan stu- dents turned out in record num- bers for the November 2020 election, with 78.1% casting a ballot, according to a report by the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education at Tufts Uni- versity. This outpaces the 66% turnout across all of the campuses included in the report and mirrors the 79% turnout in Washtenaw County. Nevertheless, student voters at the University have historically demonstrated low turnout in local elections, leaving some to consider that the turnout problem doesn’t solely lie in students not wanting to engage but in other factors such as voting accessibility. This could boil down to a long- debated structural issue — the 1956 adoption of Ann Arbor’s pie-shaped ward map. The 1956 City Charter established five pie- shaped wards, and in an April 1967 election, Charter Amend- ment Three passed, codifying the requirement that there be five wards that are compact, of similar population and wedge-shaped, tapering from the city’s edge into Downtown Ann Arbor. This pie-shaped require- ment effectively splits up student neighborhoods surrounding the University, making it difficult for students to hold a majority in a single ward. In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Council- member Kathy Griswold, D-Ward 2, said some community members have claimed that the pie-shaped requirement was “Republican gerrymandering” implemented to intentionally crack students into multiple wards, although it is unclear whether that is the case. In an email to The Daily, Kenichi Lobbezoo, Ann Arbor Student Advisory Council chair and Skyline High School senior, wrote that the pie-shaped wards dilute college student voices in government. “Whether intentionally or not, the current ward structure has the effect of basically gerryman- dering student votes,” Lobbezoo wrote. “If students are split up into different wards where they’re in the minority, it’s that much harder to elect one of their own.” In March 1967, a month prior to the election which codified the pie-shaped ward require- ment, City Council Democrats proposed a six-ward plan, which they believed would provide stu- dents stronger representation and increase the ties between coun- cilmembers to their constituents. The plan was struck down by the Council’s 7-4 Republican majority, preserving the five-ward system. At the time, council Republi- cans claimed the Democrats’ plan would decrease council efficiency and was designed as a power grab, but then-City Attorney Jacob Fah- rner Jr. penned an opinion claim- ing that the change would not, in fact, establish minority rule. Ballot text of the Ann Arbor City Charter amendments con- sidered in the April 3, 1967 elec- tion, obtained by FOIA. Charter Amendment Three passed with 56% of the vote and Charter Amendment Four failed with 47% of the vote. City of Ann Arbor. In April 1967, the community had the opportunity to vote on Charter Amendment Four, which proposed a six-ward requirement, but the amendment failed amid a Republican sweep of the election. Now, more than 50 years later, the five-ward, pie-shaped map persists, with City Council recent- ly approving a pie-shaped reappor- tionment of wards despite claims the new map sustains the status quo and disenfranchises students. Ann Arbor’s new ward bound- aries continue to split student housing into multiple wards. The University of Michigan lies at the center of the map where the wards intersect. City of Ann Arbor. The primary problem Ann Arbor holds its primaries in August, before students come back to campus. A Republican has not held a City Council seat since 2005, meaning primary elections tend to be the deciding election for City Council seats because Demo- cratic primary winners typically either beat a Republican challeng- er or run unopposed in the general election. Since most students are out of town, they miss the determining election for their Councilmember. Rackham student Amir Fleis- chmann, contract committee co- chair for the Graduate Employees’ Organization, said in an interview with The Daily the August prima- ries prevent students from both voting and running for office. “The way City Council is elect- ed with the de facto election being the Democratic primary that takes place in August disempowers stu- dents,” Fleischmann said. “It’s not really possible for (students) to run for these positions, so we can’t have representation on council in the way that others are able to.” Student voters have historically encountered obstacles in register- ing to vote, and students who move residences between wards from year to year face the challenges of having to update their voter regis- tration and becoming acquainted with their new councilmembers. University students cast early votes for the November 2020 elec- tion at the temporary Ann Arbor City Clerk’s satellite office estab- lished at the University of Michi- gan Museum of Art. More than 48,000 students are enrolled at the University of Michigan, but it is unclear what proportion of Ann Arbor’s 113,000 residents are stu- dents. Students have historically been undercounted by the census, with the lowest census response rate being in student dominated neighborhoods. Despite students making up a significant, yet ill-defined chunk, of Ann Arbor’s population, they are rarely elected to council. The most recent student Councilmem- ber, Zachary Ackerman, D-Ward 3, served from 2015 to 2020 and was the first student elected in more than two decades. Nithya Arun, president of Cen- tral Student Government and Public Health senior, said since students make up such a large per- centage of the population, their interests should be represented on City Council. “When we look at the composi- tion of City Council, none of them are students currently, which kind of doesn’t make sense, because a lot of Ann Arbor is (composed) of students,” Arun said. “(Students) are a significant population, and any type of population, for that matter, deserves representation.” In 2005, University student Eugene Kang ran for City Council in Ward 2, and lost the August pri- mary by a narrow 95-vote margin, despite significantly out-fundrais- ing his opponent. Notably, in Kang’s race, zero votes were cast from Ward 2’s Sec- ond Precinct which encompasses Mary Markley Residence Hall. Had the election been held when Markley’s more than 1,100 student residents were moved in, it is pos- sible Kang could have mustered enough student votes to carry him to victory. Students seek a piece of the pie Arun, Fleischmann, Griswold and Lobbezoo all pointed to a stu- dent being elected to City Council as a possible immediate way to increase student representation on local issues. “The most direct solution is to elect more students to local gov- ernment,” Lobbezoo wrote. “The more young people you have in local government, the more local government is going to be recep- tive to the priorities of young peo- ple.” Nevertheless, the time commit- ment required for a council mem- ber can serve as a barrier to entry for college students. Councilmem- bers and the mayor are considered part-time workers, and many hold full-time jobs, although balancing day jobs and council duties can be difficult. “I’ve never met a student who wanted to be on council at the same time they were a U of M stu- dent,” Griswold said. Student interest in holding pub- lic office may be limited, but it isn’t nonexistent. Last year, students formed the Coalition to Elect Stu- dents to the Board of Regents, as they felt representation was lack- ing on the board. In an interview with The Daily, Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor said if a student were to be elected to City Council, they would have to be able to understand the interest of all of their constituents — including non-students. “The student who wishes to be elected has to understand their potential constituents and to communicate to them why (the student) will be the best repre- sentative for them,” Taylor said. “Unless you intentionally gerry- mander the student district, then any student running for office would need to ensure that their campaign included and spoke to the hopes and dreams of non-stu- dents.” Fleischmann said the lack of a student councilmember results in City Council overlooking student issues. News Wednesday, January 26, 2022 — 3 ADMINISTRATION No matter how you slice it, UMich students perceive a lack of representation in local government DOMINICK SOKOTOFF Daily Staff Reporter A deep-dive into why undergrad voters have historically demonstrated low turnout in municipal elections The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com DOMINICK SOKOTOFF/Daily Read more at MichiganDaily.com Around 100 community members rally against violence at Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Ypsilanti CHEN LYU Daily Staff Reporter Protestors oppose prison’s operation, advocate for justice for incarcerated individuals Content warning: This article contains descriptions of violence against women. Around 100 community members gathered outside the Women’s Huron Valley Correc- tional Facility in Ypsilanti Sun- day morning to protest against the prison’s operation and advo- cate for justice for the currently incarcerated individuals. Gwen Thomas, one of the organizers of the protest, pro- vided The Michigan Daily with two whistleblower clips. The clip was recorded by a for- mer prison employee detailing the abuses inside the facility. The anonymous voice on the recording said a male correc- tional officer, believed to come from a contracted service, strip searched the female inmates outside of camera view, which is against the facility’s policy, according to the recording. The recording said the officer was not reprimanded. The Women’s Huron Val- ley Correctional Facility has also received criticisms over its crowding level and sanitary condition following 24 scabies breakthrough cases among their inmates in 2019. Ashley Goldon, who was formerly incarcerated and is now the director for the state- wide program Nation Outside, a Michigan-based organization dedicated to supporting justice- impacted individuals, spoke at the protest. Nation Outside is Goldon recounted her experi- ences in the facility during her speech. “Before I was an advocate, before I was a director of Nation Outside or had a pot to piss in, I was (identified in the prison as) 681349,” Goldon said. “We can’t heal our nation by treating the most vulnerable population like animals. Even the prongs give their beasts access to heat and water.” In an interview with The Daily, Goldon explained how gender inequality, combined with rising COVID-19 cases and overcrowding, made this facil- ity’s situation unusual, even among Michigan prisons where the incarcerated serve on aver- age the longest sentences in the U.S. “There weren’t nearly as many women in the prison at Huron Valley (Correctional Facility) when I was there,” Goldon said. “They have 400 beds, but the facility was never intended to hold 2400 people, so they were making rooms that were once common areas into sleeping quarters. We’ve been hearing complaints from the women on the inside that they are sleeping on the floor. The difference with a men’s prison is that they have several facili- ties to shuffle people around if needed to make sure everyone is safe for COVID. There is only one for women in Michigan.” The protestors marched around the correctional facility. Facing the building from behind the fencing and barbed wire, the crowd stood in a line and shout- ed: “We see you, we love you, we will be fighting with you!” Goldon told The Daily in an interview after the rally that later contact with individuals inside the facility, many felt and were inspired by the support from outside, but the prison shut down the yard to prevent gath- ering. Gordon also pointed out that Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility was dis- proportionately impacted by COVID-19. According to data published by the Michigan Department of Corrections, as of Jan. 19, there were 276 posi- tive active cases. Shawanna Vaughn, a jus- tice-impacted activist and the founder of Silent Cry, Inc., said she travelled to Michigan from New York after hearing about the protest and violence against women in the prison system. During her speech to the crowd, she underscored the trauma linked to incarceration and encouraged Michiganders to press for legislative change like she did in NY for W76337, the post-traumatic prison disorder act that made its way to the New York State Senate. “W76337 was my prison num- ber,” Vaughn said. “I wrote it myself because it’s the only mass incarceration mental health bill in the country, and I’m clear that everybody who comes home from prison is not well. Guess what? Since the state made us not well, they don’t want to heal us, but 2022 is gonna be a dif- ferent type of season because we comin (sic)to get everything they steal from us.” Trische’ Duckworth, the founder of Survivors Speak, told The Daily about their goals for enacting legislative change, including advocating for SB487, a Michigan Senate bill to pro- vide oversight over women’s prison. “When it comes to criminal justice reform, our politicians are the ones that legislatively delay on that, ” Duckworth said, “So if they’re not going to do what’s right in their seat, we will ensure that we individuals will do what is right for people at all times.” Daily Staff Reporter Chen Lyu can be reached at lyuch@umich. edu. Image courtesy of Chen Lyu