Republicans have wielded total control of Michigan’s state government ever since they won the governorship and state House in the 2010 wave. That was the last time the party won the state House popular vote but thanks to aggressive gerrymandering, they maintained their legislative majorities in 2012 and 2014, even though Democratic candidates won more votes overall. That grossly-unfair system isn’t enough though, as Republicans have sought new measures to solidify their grip on all levels of Michigan government’s.
Their latest scheme involves getting rid of the straight-ticket voting option and it has already swiftly passed in the state Senate. Michigan is one of just ten states with this option on the ballot and it is the bluest state state of the group. Straight-ticket voting saves voters time when there are many races on the ballot, cutting down on the waiting times that plague many states and especially their disproportionately nonwhite, Democratic precincts. About 50 percent of Michigan voters choose the straight-ticket option and the GOP is betting that if they eliminate it, they’ll cost Team Blue some critical votes.
Thanks to the availability of veto referendum votes, Michigan voters rejected in a landslide the last Republican attempt to eliminate straight-ticket voting in 2002. This time, Republicans attached a modest appropriations item to the bill to circumvent the democratic referendum process. They have previously used this same anti-democratic tactic to reinstitute the Emergency Manager Act just weeks after voters rejected it at the ballot box too in 2012.
Emergency managers are a way for the state government to usurp democratically-elected local governments’ authority in some of Michigan’s key Democratic strongholds such as Detroit and bring their finances more in line with Republican policy preferences, such as screwing pensioners. State Republicans have meddled further at the local level by gerrymandering the county commission in Oakland County, a Democratic-leaning suburban county of 1.2 million people that is becoming bluer, while moving forward with a plan to move its countywide elections from the presidential cycle to lower-turnout midterm years.
Republicans haven’t won a presidential election in Michigan since 1988. They haven’t won a US Senate race since 1994. Michigan has a fairly low rate of ticket splitting for president and legislature. Yet because of how they have rigged the electoral system, they could very well win state legislative majorities every single time from 2012 to 2020 even if Democrats win the statewide popular vote. These tactics of gerrymandering, ballot manipulation, emergency manager laws, voter ID, and multiple proposals to rig Michigan's Electoral College votes show an abject disregard for popular rule.
Simply put, Michigan Republicans are fighting an all out war against democracy and so far they are winning.
Fortunately, Democrats can fight back using ballot initiatives to change the state’s constitution and circumvent Republican legislation entirely to pass reforms. So far though, party members are lacking leadership on these issues, as this summer’s talk of a redistricting reform measure in 2016 has fizzled entirely. Let’s hope the party gets serious about fighting back, because Michigan can’t afford many more years of democratically-illegitimate Republican rule.