The fate of the Michigan straight-ticket device is currently pending in U.S. District Court in Detroit. In early 2016 the state had repealed the straight-ticket device. The Michigan State A. Philip Randolph Institute and Common Cause had then filed a lawsuit to retain the device. The lawsuit argues that repealing the device injures African-American voters. The U.S. District Court ordered the state to leave the device in place for the 2016 election, and the Sixth Circuit upheld that order.
Now that the 2016 election is over, the case is getting closer to a decision. On October 16, the state filed this 66-page brief, asking for Summary Judgment. The brief has hundreds of pages of attachments. The state argues that the straight-ticket device causes voter confusion and results in ballot errors, and therefore the state has an interest in eliminating the device. The state also argues that there is no evidence that the device was repealed for discriminatory purposes. The state also says that the plaintiffs have not been injured by repeal of the device, and therefore they don’t have standing.
As noted by Mr. Winger in the NY ballot posting — Mich is one of the office group regimes.
The old party logos were esp for the many functional illiterate voters — aka the *Donkey* vote folks.
The repeal of the logos was done to help Mich Elephants lower on the ballots — esp gerrymander Mich State Senators and Reps and county gerrymander commissions.
Same gerrymander related machination in all other States controlled by Elephants.