Supreme Court order allows straight ticket voting in Michigan

A survey of MI counties showed that 50 pecent of voters cast a straight-ticket ballot in the 2012 election.

Until this year, MI was one of 10 states that allowed its voters to check one box on the ballot and thereby cast votes for all the Democrats or all the Republicans who were running for office.

A federal court issued a preliminary injunction on the law, meaning straight-ticket voting would be permitted in MI, at least for this year.

U.S. District Judge Gershwin Drain’s order, in response to a lawsuit filed by nonprofit groups and individuals, temporarily halted enforcement of the law until a trial can be held on the merits of the case.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette on behalf of the Michigan Secretary of State appealed the ruling in the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the court denied efforts to stay the preliminary injunction.

This development can be seen as a victory for voting rights advocates, who have argued that restricting straight-ticket voting would exacerbate wait times and create confusion at the polls ― with the likely result that many MI residents, especially black voters, would not get a chance to vote at all.

Brewer contends long lines at the polls would violate the rights of disabled voters as well as African-American voters, who historically have a higher rate of voting straight party.

After Friday’s decision, Schuette said, “It is my duty to defend Michigan’s laws, in this case a law that stands in 40 other states”. He said that would hurt all voters, but especially black voters, because data shows the heaviest use of the straight-party option is in MI cities such as Detroit and Flint, which have large black populations.

On Sept. 1, the full US 6th Circuit Court of Appeals said it wouldn’t hear Schuette’s appeal of Drain’s order.

Michigan Atty. Gen. Bill Schuette appealed to the Supreme Court last week and urged the justices to revive the new law.

MI voters will not get to decide in the upcoming November election whether the state should establish a taxed and regulated cannabis market similar to what is now underway in Colorado.

Schuette did not immediately respond to a request for comment following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Alito Jr. said they would have restored the new law.

“Michigan’s voting laws have been challenged in court”.

The court’s decision means voters will still be able to use the popular straight-ticket option, which allows them to support all candidates from one party with a single mark. “It would have been chaos eight weeks from now at the polls if straight-party voting was eliminated”, Brewer said Friday.