LANSING — State Rep. Henry Yanez (D-Sterling Heights) introduced House Bill 6425 today, which would move partisan offices to the bottom of the Michigan ballot in an effortto increase voter participation now that straight-ticket voting will not be allowed on this November’s ballot.
“Flipping the ballot would move citizen initiatives to the top, followed by nonpartisan races, and then partisan races and the presidential race at the bottom, which I believe will encourage voting in judicial and other races that currently are at the bottom and sometimes are overlooked,” said Yanez. “It’s our right to have a say in these races, and we need to do that in order to keep our communities strong.”
Voting a lengthy ballot is often a time-consuming process that was previously expedited through straight-ticket voting. Now that the option has been eliminated from the November ballot, there is concern that sections including non-partisan races and citizen initiatives would be skipped to save time. By flipping the ballot, it puts equally important and sometimes overlooked races at the top with the aim of capturing voter response up and down the ticket.
“Voting the entire ballot is critical because it ensures we’re heard at every level of government–as well as helping to fund a lot of important local and county millages,” said Yanez. “If we have to do without straight-ticket voting, then we should be working to foster engagement on every issue and every race presented, and flipping the ballot is a great way to do that.”