Federal judge blocks Michigan ban on straight-party voting

Federal judge blocks Michigan ban on straight-party voting - Crain's Detroit Business:
"DETROIT — A judge on Thursday blocked Michigan's new ban on straight-party voting, saying it's a direct strike on the rights of blacks in big cities who tend to vote for Democrats with a single mark on the ballot.
U.S. District Judge Gershwin Drain signed an injunction a week after hearing arguments.
He said the law would place a "disproportionate burden" on blacks in the fall election, the first election that would be affected.
..."The real question that the court must answer is whether the burdens caused by P.A. 268 are in part caused by or linked to social and historical conditions that have produced or currently produced discrimination against African-Americans," Drain wrote.
"This question is unavoidably answered in the affirmative..."