© 2024 WNMU-FM
Upper Great Lakes News, Music, and Arts & Culture
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Donate Today

Lawsuit challenges Michigan ban on straight-party voting

DETROIT, MI (AP)--   The former chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party has filed a lawsuit to try to overturn a law that bans straight-party voting.

Mark Brewer, a lawyer, is representing three people and a union-affiliated group. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Detroit federal court, claims the new Michigan law violates the U.S. Constitution and laws protecting minorities and the disabled.

In January, Gov. Rick Snyder signed a law that prohibits voters from using a single mark to vote for all candidates from one party. The bill was passed by Republicans who control the House and Senate.

Snyder said 40 other states have similar bans. Straight-party voting is popular in the Michigan's largest counties, Wayne and Oakland. Democrats in the Legislature opposed the law.

The Associated Press is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering, supplying a steady stream of news to its members, international subscribers and commercial customers. AP is neither privately owned nor government-funded; instead, it's a not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its American newspaper and broadcast members.