By David Eggert
Associated Press
LANSING (AP) — Michigan voters who with a single mark can vote Democratic or Republican for every partisan office on the ballot may no longer have the option in 2016.
Republicans who control the Legislature want to make Michigan the latest state to eliminate straight-ticket, or straight-party, voting. It is still used in 10 states but has been abolished by nine others in the last 20 years, including nearby Wisconsin and Illinois.
To its detractors, straight-party voting encourages ill-prepared voters to pick officeholders solely on party affiliation, not their qualifications, and is a relic of party machine politics. Proponents say it is a convenient, popular option whose removal would lengthen lines, particularly in urban polling precincts, in a state with the country’s sixth-longest average wait time.
The GOP-controlled Senate last month approved legislation to end the straight-ticket option, and majority House Republicans may follow in December before adjourning for the year.
Nearly half of the voters in Michigan’s proverbial bellwether, suburban Detroit’s Oakland County, cast straight-party ballots in the 2014 general election. In Wayne County, home to Detroit, the straight-ticket mark was chosen on nearly 59 percent of ballots. Forty-two percent of voters in nearby Macomb County went with the straight-party choice.
Democrats tend to be more likely to select the straight-ticket option than Republicans, though a party’s strength in a particular jurisdiction often is the x factor. Of the 300,000 straight-party votes cast in Wayne County, 75 percent were Democratic. In conservative Ottawa County west of Grand Rapids, nearly 79 percent of the 54,000 straight-ticket votes were Republican.
“It is time that Michigan’s election process became more about people, less about political parties, and even less about how long it takes to exercise one of our most fundamental rights,” said the bill sponsor, Sen. Marty Knollenberg, R-Troy.
Those opposed to the measure include Democrats, election clerks and groups such as the NAACP.
Oakland County Clerk/Register of Deeds Lisa Brown said it would either lead to longer lines for voters or higher costs for municipalities determined to prevent longer waits by buying more voting booths.
“You’re disenfranchising voters by not allowing them to vote the way they want to. Some people, they go on their lunch break, they can’t wait two hours,” she said.
“Down ballot is going to be affected more. We already see voter fatigue. People don’t fill out the whole ballot.”
The Legislature twice voted to eliminate straight-ticket voting, in 2001 and 1964. But voters defeated both laws in referendums.
The new bill would give $1 million to the Department of State to cover increased costs such as revised training of county clerks and staff. The funding allocation makes the legislation immune from a referendum.
Supporters contend that without the option of straight-party voting in one fell swoop, voters would be encouraged to better educate themselves about individual candidates and not neglect to also vote in lower-profile partisan races, nonpartisan elections and on ballot questions related to taxes and other issues. They stress that people could still vote for a Democrat, Republican or other party’s candidate throughout their ballot.
Opponents say it is unfair to suggest those who vote a straight ticket are uninformed. They argue that voters may be less, not more, likely to vote the nonpartisan section if they have to wait longer. Michigan’s average wait time in 2012 was nearly 20 minutes, sixth-highest among all states, according to the Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project, which bases its estimates on two national academic surveys.
Matt Grossman, a political science associate professor at Michigan State University, said jettisoning straight-ticket voting likely would decrease the number of votes for partisan down-ballot races such as university boards but increase votes for nonpartisan down-ballot races such as judgeships.
“Since Michigan has more Democrats than Republicans, I would expect this reform to help down-ballot Republican candidates with independent reputations but it might hurt some Republican-endorsed candidates in nonpartisan races because fewer Democrats would skip the nonpartisan section,” he said.
It is uncertain whether the GOP-led House will act quickly on the legislation. It cleared a Senate committee and the full Senate largely along party lines in just one day, the last before legislators left for a two-week break.
Republican House Speaker Kevin Cotter said he would study the bill.
“I want to get a better feel for exactly what’s there,” he said.
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