Michigan Republicans are convinced they ended up benefiting immensely in Tuesday’s election from the straight-ticket voting policy that they have been determined to eliminate. They credit presidential candidate Donald Trump’s strength in Macomb County and the preservation of straight-ticket voting for helping them capture three countywide posts held by Democrats. The straight-ticket effect is a twist of irony after a prominent Macomb County Democrat waged a legal battle to keep the voting option on the ballot. A Republican-backed state law banning straight-ticket voting was suspended by a federal judge for this election because it likely would cause voter confusion, but the fight to protect it was seen as a maneuver to help Trump’s rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton.
“The Republicans (repealed) straight ticket voting, the Democrats fought it and got it held, and then we ended being the benefactors of straight-ticket voting,” said state Rep. Lisa Posthumus Lyons, R-Alto, chair of the House Elections Committee.
Mark Brewer, the former Michigan Democratic Party chairman and a resident of Clinton Township, led the fight in court to keep the straight-party voting practice, which allows voters to fill in one bubble on their ballot to support all candidates of one political party in partisan races. “If they think straight-party voting is so helpful, my challenge to them is to repeal the bill that took it away,” Brewer said. “But they won’t.”
The most visible effect in Metro Detroit was in Macomb County, where Democratic county Treasurer Derek Miller lost by 1,612 votes to Republican Larry Rocca and Democratic county clerk candidate Fred Miller was narrowly defeated by 637 votes by Republican Karen Spranger. Both races were decided by fractions of a percentage point.
Full Article: GOP benefits from straight-party voting it opposes.