Republican Attorney General (and certain governor candidate in 2018) Bill Schuette is no doubt crying in his beer this morning...
Supreme Court Shuts Down Michigan’s Push To Eliminate ‘Straight-Ticket’ Voting
The Supreme Court on Friday denied an emergency request from Michigan to reinstate a ban on “straight-ticket” voting, a mechanism that allows people to vote for every candidate in a party’s ticket by marking a single box on a ballot.
The court’s order indicates that two justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, would’ve allowed the ban to go into effect.
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 Michigan residents, especially black voters, would not get a chance to vote at all.
A federal judge in May had put the straight-ticket voting ban on hold ahead of the November election, reasoning that the long-standing practice was favored by black voters in prior contests and that eliminating it would burden their right to vote.
Attorney and former MDP Chair Mark Brewer (who brought the lawsuit) actually deserves a ton of credit for this win for voting rights. As he noted this morning on Facebook:
I'm pleased to report that this morning the U.S. Supreme Court denied Schuette's request to block Michigan voters from using straight party voting. Michigan voters will have that option in November. Schuette has now lost 5 times in federal court, and Cotter, Meekhof and he have wasted tens of thousands of dollars, at least, in their effort to suppress the vote in Michigan, especially the votes of African Americans. This is a great victory for all Michigan voters.
I actually had a mini-scoop on this development late last night...you see, my own official sample ballot showed up from the County Clerk’s office (they send candidates a sample to make sure that your name is spelled correctly), and as you can see above, the straight-ticket option is indeed there at the top-left corner, just as it should be :)
Speaking of which...hey, who’s that???
I’m running for County Commissioner in Mitt Romney’s hometown. It’s heavily Republican, but I'd like to at least have a fighting chance. With that in mind, please consider donating today!
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In addition, please help out Nicole Bedi, running for State Representative here in Michigan’s 40th state House seat!
(in fact, if you can only spare a donation for one of us, please donate to her campaign instead of mine; while I obviously want to win my own race, retaking the state house is more important!)
(In addition, here are two other local candidates who could use some love):