The Independent View: Michigan Takes Straight-Party Voting Fight to Supreme Court

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, facing increasing criticism for continuing a Court fight with the deadline nearing to finalize Michigan's Election ballot, took his case against Straight-Party voting to the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday.

Schuette "filed an emergency application, for a stay with the United States Supreme Court," spokeswoman Andrea Bitely said.

The Attorney General asked for an answer by Sept. 8 "in order for election officials to move forward with printing ballots for the November elections," she said.

State and Local officials say the ballot for the Nov. 8 Election must be finalized by Sept. 9 to allow for printing and processing of Absentee ballots, and they need to know whether Straight-Party voting will be an option.

"He continues to waste taxpayer dollars, and as clerks we need some resolution so we can print ballots," said Oakland County Clerk Lisa Brown, a former Democratic State Representative.

Republicans such as House Speaker Kevin Cotter, R-Mt. Pleasant, say the Attorney General is doing his job by defending a law passed by the Legislature.

Bitely could not immediately provide an estimate of how much money the Straight-Party appeals have cost to date.

On Thursday, the full U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals said it wouldn't hear Schuette's appeal of a Federal Judge's injunction against a State law banning Straight-Party voting in Michigan.

Instead, the Appellate Court sent the case back to the same Three-Judge panel of the 6th Circuit that earlier refused to block a Preliminary Injunction against the law, issued in July by U.S. District Judge Gershwin Drain in Detroit, who said it was likely the law would unconstitutionally disadvantage black voters.

That meant the same Three-Judge panel is to give expedited consideration of Schuette's Appeal of Drain's preliminary injunction, instead of the full panel of 6th Circuit Judges, as Schuette requested.

Now, Schuette said in Court filings he wants the U.S. Supreme Court to review the 6th Circuit's denial of his request for a stay.

At least one legal expert said Friday that Schuette's latest appeal is a long shot. Rick Hasen, a Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California at Irvine, and author of an Election Law blog, said weak arguments in Schuette's Court filing, combined with the short time frame for a decision given the Labor Day weekend, "make me think this is not going to be a winner for emergency ... relief."

The law banning Straight-Party voting was passed by the Republican-led Legislature late last year and signed into law by GOP Gov. Rick Snyder in January.

Clerks say banning Straight-Ticket voting will cause delays, especially if the change isn't coupled with any-reason Absentee voting, which the Michigan Legislature considered, but did not approve.

Schuette and other Republicans say Straight-Party voting, which is banned in 40 states, represents poor civic engagement, and voters should consider each race and its candidates individually.

"Requiring voters to actually vote for individual candidates would not be a harm to any voter," Schuette said in a Court filing asking the U.S. Supreme Court to stay Drain's preliminary injunction. "In contrast, the state suffered an irreparable harm when the district court enjoined its statute..."

Drain ruled in July that banning Straight-Party voting would result in longer lines and waiting times to vote. That would disadvantage all voters, but especially black voters because data show the use of Straight-Party voting is strongest in large Michigan cities such as Detroit, where blacks are concentrated, he said. Drain's ruling doesn't decide the issue, but barring a successful appeal, it means Straight-Party voting can continue in Michigan until a trial determines whether the State law is Constitutional.

Dianne Wernette, a long-time Precinct Chairwoman in Farmington Hills, said she wishes Schuette would visit her Precinct on Election Day, which for her starts with a set-up at 6 a.m. and ends close to 10 p.m., two hours after the polls close. "I'm actually afraid of what it's going to be like if this goes through," Wernette said of a ban on Straight-Party voting. "In the last presidential election, we had to have, I would say 120 people in line before we opened, and we had lines all day long," she said. Those lines will be much longer if voters can't use straight-party, because "we only have so many booths for them to vote in," she said.

In a news release, Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Brandon Dillon called Schuette's actions "a crusade". “Bill Schuette is a desperate man who will stop at nothing to waste taxpayer dollars and jeopardize the fairness and integrity of our elections, all in an effort to please his big-money GOP donors," Dillon said. “He’s gone against the will of Michigan voters, he’s ignored three separate rulings by federal judges, including the entire Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, and now he’s gone beyond the pale with his personal crusade to strip Michigan voters of the right to vote straight ticket."

For the record, I am against Straight-Party voting. Straight-Party voting, which is banned in 40 states, represents poor civic engagement, and voters should consider each race and its candidates individually.