michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, June 15, 2022 - Weekly Summer Edition

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY ONE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

GOT A NEWS TIP?
Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail 
news@michigandaily.com and let 
us know.

INDEX
Vol. CXXX, No. 81
©2022 The Michigan Daily

N E W S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

STATEMENT. . . . . . . . . . . . 4

M I C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 

O PI N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
michigandaily.com

For more stories and coverage, visit
Follow The Daily 
on Instagram, 
@michigandaily

Michigan voters’ guide to signing petitions
The Michigan Daily has compiled tips for all registered voters on 
how to safely sign petitions in Ann Arbor

The state of Michigan allows 
citizens 
to 
propose 
ballot 
initiatives, 
which 
can 
initiate 
state constitutional amendments 
or proposals to implement or 
repeal state legislation. Successful 
initiatives can be placed on the ballot 
in an upcoming election or delivered 
directly to the state legislature. For 
either of these to occur, citizens 
must collect hundreds of thousands 
of signatures; the precise number 
varies in proportion to the number 
of people who voted in the previous 
gubernatorial election. 
This year, a proposed amendment 
must collect 425,059 signatures and 
proposed legislation must collect 
340,047. If a proposed amendment 
passes this threshold, it is put 
directly on the ballot for the nearest 
upcoming election. For proposed 

laws, enough signatures advance 
the proposal to the state legislature, 
where lawmakers have 40 days to 
determine whether or not to adopt 
it. If they choose not to, the law is 
placed on the next general election 
ballot for voters to evaluate. 
There 
are 
16 
petitions 
in 
circulation this year seeking to 
change or amend state law regarding 
issues such as voting, reproductive 
rights, criminal justice reform and 
education policy. To help navigate 
this year’s petitioning process, The 
Michigan Daily has compiled a list 
of tactics to help voters understand 
what they are signing. 
1. Research this year’s petitions 
before signing them. 
All petitions in circulation for the 
2022 election year are available in 
full on the Board of State Canvassers 
website. Each item links to the 
full text, including all articles and 
referendums, of each petition as well 
as an image of a signature page. Since 

Four Ann Arbor Starbucks 
locations vote to unionize, 
bringing state total up to five

Starbucks workers, organizers and community members 
gather in front of the State Street Starbucks as four 
locations announce that they have voted to unionize

Around 50 Starbucks workers, 
organizers and community members 
gathered in front of the Starbucks 
on State Street as four Starbucks 
locations across Ann Arbor voted 
to unionize. The South University 
Avenue location was the only one out 
of five to vote against unionization. 
Attendees at the rally watched 
over Zoom as the votes were 
counted by a representative from 
the National Labor Relations Board 
(NLRB) before the final number 
was announced to the crowd over 
a megaphone. The four locations 
that voted to unionize — Glencoe 
Crossing shopping mall, Main and 
East Liberty streets, Jackson and 
Zeeb roads, and State and East 
Liberty streets — join a Grand Rapids 
location, which became the first 
unionized Starbucks in Michigan in 
May.
The Glencoe Crossing location 
voted in favor of unionization by a 
tally of 14–0, Main and East Liberty 
streets by a tally of 10–3, Jackson 

and Zeeb roads by a tally of 10–2, and 
State and East Liberty streets by a tally 
of 15–1. The South University Avenue 
location voted against unionization by 
a tally of 10–16. 
Labor organizer Hannah Whitbeck 
was fired in April from her shift 
supervisor position at the Starbucks 
at Main and East Liberty streets 
following her efforts to unionize the 
store. Whitbeck is now attempting to 
be reinstated for what she claims was 
a retaliatory firing.
In an interview with The Michigan 
Daily, Whitbeck said her campaign for 
unionization stemmed from a desire 
for better working conditions. 
“We wanted better pay, we wanted 
certain things negotiated, we wanted 
to talk to people higher up in corporate 
and have a voice,” Whitbeck said. 
“Those are all seeds of unionizing, 
but we just didn’t connect the two 
together.” 
It was only after an organizer from 
the location at Jackson and Zeeb roads 
came to Whitbeck’s store to discuss 
unionization that the Starbucks at 
Main and East Liberty streets began 
to organize. 

diving straight into the legal jargon of 
a petition may be intimidating, The 
Daily has identified two unbiased, 
accurate sources of information on 
this year’s petitions to help voters 
learn what each petition aims to do 
and which organizations support it.
Bridge Michigan’s petition drives 
tracker compiles information about 
13 ballot measures, each containing 
an overview of what the petition 
hopes to accomplish, which groups 
are in support of and opposed to 
the initiative and from where the 
measure has received funding. The 
guide is updated on a weekly basis.
Eric 
Ivancich, 
University 
of 
Michigan alum and Ann Arbor 
resident, is the author of Michigan 
Petitions 2022: an all-in-one guide 
for Michiganders to read about the 
petitioning process, how to sign a 
petition and what petitions are being 
circulated for the 2022 election year. 

IRENA LI 
& SAMANTHA RICH
Summer News Editors

Ford School hosts event, “What Comes after Roe?” 
Experts in public policy, economies and medicine gather to discuss potential 
circumstances that may arise should Roe v. Wade be overturned

The 
University 
of 
Michigan 
Ford School of Public Policy, the 
Institute for Research on Women 
and Gender, and the Center for the 
Education of Women+ partnered 
to host a virtual event titled “What 
Comes after Roe?” on Wednesday. 
Experts in public policy, economics 
and medicine from the University 
discussed potential reverberations 
that may arise on campus, state and 
national levels should Roe v. Wade 
be overturned.
In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court 
case Roe v. Wade established the 

constitutional right for an individual 
to have access to abortions. Last 
month, a draft by the Supreme Court 
— which would overturn the decision 
of abortion as a constitutional right 
— was leaked.
Anna 
Kirkland, 
professor 
of 
women’s and gender studies, was 
the keynote speaker at Wednesday’s 
event.
“The draft opinion is very similar 
to the final ruling that we will see, 
which would permit, but not require, 
states to criminalize abortion,” 
Kirkland said. “This is particularly 
important 
for 
those 
seeking 
abortion access in Michigan since 
future policies in the state are still 
uncertain.” 

Kirkland 
said 
the 
potential 
overturning of Roe v. Wade can 
be attributed to the decades-long 
legal and political mobilization by 
anti-abortion 
religious 
advocates 
in the Republican Party. Kirkland 
also said the structural features of 
the U.S. political system might have 
influenced the draft opinion, as the 
Supreme Court is currently much 
more conservative than the general 
public.
Should Michigan become a ban 
state, 
self-managed 
medication 
abortionse — which represent more 
than half of U.S. abortions — will 
become more commonly used. 

LENA MCDONOUGH 
Daily Staff Reporter

Read more at michigandaily.com

Read more at michigandaily.com

ELI FRIEDMAN 
& IRENA LI
Summer Managing News Editor & 
Summer News Editor

Courtesy of Irena Li

Read more at michigandaily.com