Michigan resisting challenge to ban on straight-party voting | State-region | petoskeynews.com

Michigan resisting challenge to ban on straight-party voting | State-region | petoskeynews.com
DETROIT (AP) — The results of the 2016 election are being replayed in federal court as the state of Michigan defends a Republican-backed law that would abolish straight-party voting, an easy ballot option that's especially popular in urban areas that go Democratic.
The law was suspended last year by a judge who said an end to straight-party ballots could cause long lines and place a disproportionate burden on black voters. 
Now, after months of analysis by experts, that same judge must decide whether the lawsuit should go to trial or be dismissed in favor of the state.
Straight-party voting is the act of making a single mark on a ballot to pick candidates of one party, from president to county commissioner. It's been in practice for more than 100 years in Michigan and is widely held in urban areas; Detroit's rate was 80 percent in 2016.
...Only a handful of states allow straight-party voting. 
Barton said it's implausible that more than 40 states that don't offer it have violated the U.S. Constitution "without anyone noticing...."
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