Common Cause Hails Court Decision Upholding Straight-Ticket Voting in Michigan

Statement by Dan Farough, spokesman for Common Cause Michigan

“Lansing politicians should have never banned straight-ticket voting. The law they passed would choke off the voices of millions of Michiganders and make tens of thousands more stand in longer lines to be heard on Election Day. Common Cause Michigan calls on Secretary of State Ruth Johnson and Attorney General Bill Schuette to accept this decision without an appeal and allow November’s general election to proceed with the straight-ticket voting option.”

 

Statement by Allegra Chapman, Common Cause director of voting and elections

“The court correctly concluded that Michigan’s attempt to ban straight-ticket voting would place a ‘disproportionate burden on African-Americans’ right to vote’ and that Michigan’s $5 million plan to upgrade the machinery of its elections to offset that burden is ‘woefully insufficient.’

“This decision, alongside voting rights rulings this week in Wisconsin and Texas, demonstrates that now more than ever we need to restore the full rights and protections of the Voting Rights Act. We’re pleased that the court recognized so strongly the impact the Michigan law would have on the constitutional rights of African-Americans. Since the Supreme Court’s Shelby County v. Holder decision three years ago, 22 states have either rolled back important voting reforms or erected new obstructions to the ballot box. Today’s decision breaks that pattern and we hope the rest of the country will take notice.

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