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Michigan Resisting Challenge To Ban On Straight-Party Voting

DETROIT (AP) - A year after the 2016 election, the state of Michigan still is in court resisting a challenge to a ban on straight-party voting.

Gov. Rick Snyder and Republicans in the Legislature abolished straight-party voting, but a federal judge suspended the law last year. He said it would disproportionately burden blacks and cause confusion in cities where the option is popular.

Straight-party voting means making a single mark on a ballot to pick candidates of one party. In Detroit, which typically votes Democratic, 80 percent of ballots were straight-ticket in 2016.

Roughly 50 percent of all ballots in Michigan were straight-party last year. Lawyers for the state say the ban doesn't discriminate because it applies to everyone.

Judge Gershwin Drain must decide whether the lawsuit will go to trial.

 

(Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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