Federal Appeals Court Upholds Michigan's Straight-Ticket Voting

Michigan voters will be able to cast straight-ticket ballots under a ruling Wednesday by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson had asked the appeals court to reinstate the ban, imposed by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature and signed into law by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder in January.

A three-judge panel of the Cincinnati-based court unanimously upheld an earlier decision by U.S. District Judge Gershwin Drain, who said a ban on straight-ticket 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 have long lines.

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

The three judges — all appointed by either President Barack Obama or President Bill Clinton — said their ruling “will merely require Michigan to use the same straight-party procedure that it has used since 1891.” Drain is also an Obama appointee.

The Michigan debate is part of a national conversation over voting rights laws, most of them requiring voter identification, that some say disenfranchise minority voters and could swing the outcome of this year’s general election. Last month, a federal appeals court struck down a voter ID law in North Carolina, saying it was “passed with racially discriminatory intent.” The full 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a similar law in Texas.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said in a statement that he will seek a review by the full appellate court.

“Michigan is no different than the 40 other states that have eliminated straight-ticket voting,” Schuette said. “We will continue to defend the laws of the State of Michigan and plan to file an emergency appeal to the 6th Circuit for an en banc review by the full court."

In a brief arguing for a stay of Drain’s ruling, Assistant Michigan Attorney General Denise Baron wrote that “the issues brought in this case are important election issues of first impression that have statewide impact, and without a stay, the defendant — and the citizens of the state of Michigan — will be irreparably harmed by not having laws passed by its elected representatives enforced.”

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.

However, 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.

Read the ruling below.

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