U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Allows Straight-Party Voting in Nov. 8 General Election

Updated. WASHINGTON, DC — Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has hit the end of the line in his fight to ban straight-party voting, which allows voters to easily indicate support for all members of a single party on the ballot rather than picking them one at a time. The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday rejected his bid to halt lower court rulings that blocked the Republican-sponsored bill signed by Gov. Rick Snyder.

Drain had said a ban on straight-party voting violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment and the Voting Rights Act, and would disproportionately burden African-American voters because it would increase the time required to vote in districts that may already be long.

“In the face of this burden, the state has offered only vague and largely unsupported justifications of fostering voter knowledge and engagement,” 6th Circuit Judges Karen Moore, Ronald Lee Gilman and Jane Branstetter Stranch wrote in the ruling that upheld Drain’s ruling.

Previously on Patch

• Federal Appeals Court Upholds Michigan Straight-Party Voting
• Michigan AG Takes Fight Against Straight-Party Voting to U.S. Supreme Court

Schuette took the fight to the Supreme Court after the full 6th Circuit court refused to hear the case.

Supporters of the ban said eliminating the straight-party option would result in more informed voters.

In a court filing, Schuette argued that requiring voters to fill out individual bubbles, rather than a single oval at the top of the ballot, “does not impinge the right to vote but arguably expands that right by having the voter review the entire ballot.”

When Snyder signed the legislation in January, he noted concerns that elimination of the straight-ticket option could result in longer lines at the polls and asked lawmakers to expand absentee voting options, but that hasn't happened.

Michigan doesn’t allow no-reason absentee voting, early in-person voting, or online or automatic voter registration.

Forty other states prohibit straight-ticket voting.

Here's the order in the Michigan voting case pic.twitter.com/hEAEu9rziZ
— David Shepardson (@davidshepardson) September 9, 2016

In the 6-2 ruling, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito would have granted the application for a stay.

Three state legislators — Senate Majority Leader Arian Meekhof, R-West Olive, House Speaker Kevin Cotter, R-Mount Pleasant, and Sen. Marty Knollenbeg, R-Troy, the sponsor of the straight-party ban legislation — filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court arguing that Drain based his ruling on “junk science” after “cherry-picking data from only a few counties and cities,” the Detroit Free Press reported.

In his opinion, Drain cited a report by demographer Kurt Metzger, which found that of 15 Michigan cities with a 65 percent or higher rate of straight-party voting, only two had a majority of white citizens. Communities with a 75 percent or higher rate of straight-party voting had a majority of African-American residents.
Metzger was hired to do the research by Mark Brewer, the former head of the Michigan Democratic Party, which had opposed the ban on straight-ticket voting.

The Free Press also reported that Brewer and Mary Ellen Gurewitz, who represent the A. Philip Randolph Institute and other groups and individuals fighting the straight-party ban, argued in a court filing that the case illustrates “the unconstitutional consequences for millions of voters of eliminating this option in the unique context of Michigan elections — massive confusion and even longer lines at polling places deterring voters, especially African-American voters, from voting."

Though the Supreme Court ruling preserves the straight-party option in the November election, the fight isn’t over. Drain’s injunction only temporarily enjoined the state from implementing the law.

In a statement, Michigan Democratic Party chairman Brandon Dillon warned that though the Supreme Court ruling preserves the straight-party option in the November election, a larger fight is looming. Drain’s injunction only temporarily enjoined the state from implementing the law.

“We are pleased with the Supreme Court’s decision to reject Bill Schuette’s Hail Mary attempt to have straight-ticket voting banned in Michigan in time for this year’s election,” Dillon said.

Photo by Sean Hackbarth via Flickr Commons