Sen. Marty Knollenberg
Why does the Republican-controlled state Senate want to a law that would prohibit the electorate from being able to vote a straight ticket, Republican or Democrat, instead of having to vote on each individual candidate?
Easy, Rubin concludes: The state Senate assumes we're idiots, and oh yes, far more Democrats tend to vote straight ticket than Republicans.
Rubin writes:
The Republicans in the Michigan Senate decided last week to do away with straight-ticket voting. A quick committee meeting in the morning, all-in-favor-say-aye that night. Never mind that when the legislature did away with straight tickets before, in 2001, Michigan voters passed an initiative to reinstall them.
This time, the Republican majority added a $1 million appropriation to the needless bill that voters have said they don’t want, which makes it immune to being challenged. You might wonder why the senate decided — 23 Republicans for, 11 Democrats and two Republicans against — to concern itself with one little time-saving circle on the ballot.
The bill’s sponsor, Marty Knollenberg, R-Troy, said with a straight face that “it should be about the candidate, not pulling a lever for a political party.”
So now, the House still needs to pass the legislation and Gov. Rick Snyder needs to sign it into law.
Rubin asks:
Does anyone believe for a millisecond that the bill would exist if most straight-ticket voters were Republican?
