GOT A NEWS TIP?
E-mail news@michigandaily.com and let 
us know.

INDEX
Vol. CXXXII, No. 99
©2022 The Michigan Daily

NEWS............................1

A R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

STAT E M ENT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

M I C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

O P I N I O N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 1
michigandaily.com

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

michigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, November 16, 2022

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY TWO YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM

Michigan voters have approved 
Proposal 
3, 
also 
known 
as 
Reproductive Freedom For All, 
with 54% voting in support and 
46% of votes counted, according to 
NBC News. 
Proposal 3 is a constitutional 
amendment that enshrines the right 
to abortion, birth control and other 
forms of reproductive healthcare 
in 
the 
Michigan 
Constitution. 
The initiative gathered a record-
breaking 753,000 signatures in 
its support, of which the Board of 
State Canvassers estimates around 
596,000 were valid. The proposal 
was initially kept off the ballot 
after the two Democrats and two 
Republicans on the board split 
the vote on whether to certify the 
initiative. Following an appeal from 
Reproductive Freedom For All, the 
Michigan Supreme Court ruled it 
would appear on the ballot. 
The 
amendment 
repeals 
Michigan’s 1931 abortion ban that 
criminalizes all abortions except 
to save the life of the pregnant 
person. While currently blocked by 
a preliminary injunction following 
a lawsuit from Gov. Gretchen 
Whitmer, the overturning of Roe v. 
Wade opened up the possibility of 
its enforcement. 
In an interview with The 
Michigan Daily, Nursing senior 
Linda Camp said she was excited to 
vote yes on Proposal 3 this Election 
Day.

Proposal 3 
passes with 
56.7% of vote

NEWS

 SAMANTHA RICH
Daily Staff Reporter

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

As temperatures dropped 
to the low 40s, over a hundred 
students and local residents 
stood in line — bundled up 
with blankets and cradling 
cups of hot chocolate — outside 
the University of Michigan 
Museum of Art polling station 
for hours after it officially 
closed at 8 p.m. 
The Ann Arbor City Clerk 
Satellite 
Office 
at 
UMMA 
opened 
on 
Sept. 
27 
and 
remained open until the last 
voter of the night, Rackham 
student Erik Pedersen, cast his 
ballot at 2:05 a.m. after waiting 
in line for 6 hours. 
“I was teaching my classes 
and I didn’t have time (to vote) 
at any point during the day,” 
Pedersen said. “I saw the line 
out here and I felt I had to make 
the effort to get out here and I 
got in line just in time as they 
were closing the doors.”
As 
a 
speaker 
radiated 
music between the campus 
buildings next to the Diag, the 
atmosphere was filled with 
excitement 
and 
eagerness 
from the students lined up 
outside, despite the late hour. 
Pedersen 
said 
the 
support 
from volunteers impacted his 
decision to wait out the line. 
“E 
veryone’s 
been 
very 
supportive 
and 
upbeat,” 
Pedersen said. “People have 
been bringing me pizza. This 
coat and blanket is not mine 
— somebody gave it to me and 
everybody’s been very nice so 
far.”
Kulin Oak, LSA and Business 
senior, said he joined the 

UMMA line around 7:30 p.m. 
and would continue to wait 
despite the cold weather. As a 
Michigan resident, Oak said he 
is taking advantage of same-
day registration. 
“I know that if I don’t stay 
in the line, I miss my chance 
to vote, and I don’t want to 
let people who have different 
views than myself vote on 
policy that’s gonna affect me 
and my family,” Oak said. “So 
I want to at least give my best 
shot at having my voice be 
heard.”
Oak said he was particularly 
interested in casting a vote 
for incumbent Gov. Gretchen 
Whitmer and voting ‘Yes’ on 
Proposal 3, a ballot initiative 
that would enshrine the right 
to 
an 
abortion 
and 
other 
reproductive health measures 
in the Michigan Constitution.
“I’m excited to vote for 
Whitmer,” Oak said. “I know 
also with Prop 3 being on the 
ballot, it’s really important to 
show support for that. I know 
that there are things across the 
ticket, but those are the two 
main things I was interested in 
voting (for).” 
Public Policy junior Eva 
Hale, co-president of Students 
for Whitmer, said she has been 
at the UMMA polling location 
since 11 a.m. to support those 
waiting in line in the cold. 
She said volunteers from all 
around the city came to the line 
throughout the day to donate 
blankets and food.
“We’re really just trying to 
make sure people are okay in 
line,” Hale said. “We have a ton 
of pizza, loads of blankets and 
we’re giving people snacks.”
As the end of the line slowly 
crept closer and closer to the 
UMMA entrance, Hale stood 
on the grass field outside 

the building collecting and 
folding blankets with around 
a 
dozen 
other 
volunteers. 
Multiple community members 
credited the support to social 
media posts from Washtenaw 
County Democratic Party chair 
Chris Savage. Hale said the 
remaining blankets and food 
will be donated to the Shelter 
Association 
of 
Washtenaw 
County at the Delonis Center 
as well as Miller Manor, both 
local homeless shelters. 
Molly Ging, a longtime Ann 
Arbor resident, said she had 
been at the UMMA location 
volunteering 
for 
over 
two 
hours after seeing Twitter 
posts about how long students 
had been in line. As a mother 
in Ann Arbor, Ging said these 
posts inspired her to come out 
and support students waiting 
in the cold. 
“When that bat signal was 
sent out, all my mom friends 
came out with food and hand 
warmers,” Ging said. “If we 
hear they’re hungry and cold, 
we will be there.”
Ann Arbor resident Julia 
Hale said she had been offered 
blankets, hand warmers, pizza, 
McDonald’s chicken nuggets, 
chocolate, granola bars, cheese, 
tea, coffee and hot chocolate 
while she was waiting to 
vote. She said at some point, a 
volunteer was walking around 
taking orders from prospective 
voters about what they needed. 
“I’ve gotta see it through; I 
have to see it through,” Julia 
Hale said. “I’ve been out here 
for like two hours now. I just 
feel like our country is in a 
really fucked up place…. I 
believe in doing my part for 
harm reduction.”

 KRISTINA ZHENG &
ANNA FIFELSKI
Managing News Editor and 
Daily News Editor

Students stand in long lines 
after dark

NEWS

The Michigan Democratic Party 
announced Thursday that state 
Rep. Joe Tate, D-Detroit, will be the 
next House speaker and state Sen. 
Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, will 
be the next Senate majority leader. 
The move comes after Michigan 
Democrats gained control of the 
governorship and both houses of the 
state legislature for the first time 
since 1984. 
Tate is currently serving his 
second term in the House, where he 
holds the position of vice chair of the 
House Appropriations Committee. 
He will be the state of Michigan’s first 
Black House speaker. 
In an interview with The Michigan 
Daily on Friday, Tate said House 
Democrats will continue working 
toward the priorities they’ve held 
in the past, which include workers’ 
rights, infrastructure investments 
and environmental protections. Tate 
said while he will bring his personal 
life experiences to this role, he also 
wants to ensure that the House’s 
legislation is representative of a 
diversity of voices and backgrounds 
in the state. 
“We are a diverse group that live 
in the state of Michigan and that was 
reflected in this leadership race,” 
Tate said. 
“I’m going to bring my experiences 
as a Black man, as a Detroiter to this 
role as speaker, but also, we know 
that what we do in the House — the 
policies that we vote on and the laws 
that we pass — we want to make sure 
that it will have a positive impact 

New House 
speaker, 
Senate leader 
make history

NEWS

 SAMANTHA RICH
Daily Staff Reporter

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

MICHIGAN GOES 
BLUE

Michigan’s 
2022 
election 
saw a midterm-record 4.45 
million voters turn out to the 
polls, resulting in a Democratic 
trifecta in the Michigan House, 
Senate and Governor seat for the 
first time in nearly 40 years. 
Voters 
across 
the 
state, 
including University of Michigan 
students, faculty and community 
members, voted on some pivotal 
issues, including abortion, crime, 
the 
economy, 
immigration, 
inflation and student debt. From 
early in the morning to late into 
the night, students and Ann 
Arbor residents sat through 
hours of cold on Nov. 8 waiting 
to vote at the University of 
Michigan Museum of Art, and 
countless others made their way 
to designated polling locations 
between Tuesday’s classes.
With wins from incumbent 
Gov. 
Gretchen 
Whitmer, 
Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II, 
Attorney General Dana Nessel 
and Secretary of State Jocelyn 
Benson, many U-M students said 
they feel hopeful for the future 
and the state of Michigan. LSA 

sophomore Philip Rentschler 
said he was especially glad to 
see the Democratic Party take 
control of the trifecta of state 
politics, with control of both 
legislative chambers along with 
the governor’s office.
“I’m excited to see the 
Democratic Party hold this 
trifecta,” 
Rentschler 
said. 
“Although I find the Democratic 
Party to be less progressive than 
I’d like it to be, they’re still more 
likely to move forward than their 
opposition is. With this much 
hold over the legislative process, 
I hope to see them do just that. 
For example, I’d love to see 
them push for better education 
funding, 
climate 
regulation, 
racial equality, sexual equality 
and so forth while they have the 
best chance to do so.”
LSA freshman Natalie Wise 
said she felt inspired by the 
voter turnout this year, which 
made history in the state of 
Michigan. At the University, 
students waited outside for as 
long as six hours in order to cast 
a ballot. The last student in line 
voted at 2:05 a.m., after getting 
in line just before the deadline 
at 8 p.m.

 JOSHUA NICHOLSON 
& ERYN STERN
Daily Contributors

See BLUE WAVE, Page 3

TESS CROWLEY/Daily

JENNA HICKEY/Daily

Students wait in line to vote and register at the UMMA Tuesday night.

LILA TURNER/Daily

A student wraps herself in a blanket as she waits in line to register to vote in the UMMA at 
1 a.m. Wednesday morning. 

GRACE BEAL/Daily

Business junior Odhran Moloney lays on the floor of the UMMA and works on his laptop as 
he waits in line to register and vote at 1 a.m. Wednesday morning. Moloney, an exchange 
student from Ireland and dual citizen in America, stated that he did not mind the five-hour 
wait to cast his first vote in the United States.

Democrats control state trifecta for first time since 1984

MI voters approve 
constitutional right to 
reproductive freedom

Same-day registration leads to hour-long waits

Joe Tate, Winnie Brinks 
promote increased 
representation

See STUDENTS WAIT IN 
LINE, Page 3