U.S. judge suspends Michigan's ban on straight-ticket voting

Reuters ^ | July 21, 2016

[SMGFan]

A federal judge on Thursday temporarily suspended a Michigan law that abolished straight-ticket voting - the practice of using one mark to vote for all candidates from one party - that was going to take effect in the November general election.

U.S. District Court Eastern District of Michigan Judge Gershwin Drain granted a preliminary injunction sought by civil rights and labor groups who sued Secretary of State Ruth Johnson arguing that the law would keep African-Americans from voting.

Johnson and Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette will appeal the order on Monday or Tuesday next week, Schuette spokesman John Sellek said in an email.

[taildragger]

What you may not know this is a subject matter of the Tea Party base and the methodology goes something like this: A ton of down ticket candidates often do not even get marked as even Republicans will do the straight ticket ballot. It is an attempt ( or a hope some may say ) that "R" voters will actually look at the regents, school board members, and "dog catcher" type down-ticket ballot entries and vote for the "R" that are really more influential than we know....