Senate Looks to End Straight Ticket Voting: SB
13, a bill to eliminate straight ticket voting, cleared a Senate Committee
Tuesday morning and the full Senate by that evening. Under this legislation,
voters would be unable to vote for all the candidates of one party by a single
selection.
The full chamber
included additional language to place a $1 million appropriation from the
General Fund to the Department of State. The appropriation will go towards
assessing the impact of eliminating straight ticket voting, assist in ongoing
compliance and electoral fraud prevention, and to conduct post-election audits
in selected precincts following each election.
The money may also be
used to provide follow-up with local election officials to correct any errors
or issues, audit file maintenance by local election officials and provide
equipment to facilitate the integrity of the election process. The inclusion of
the appropriation also makes this legislation referendum-proof. Senate
Democrats together with Senator Patrick Colbeck (R-Canton Township) and Senator
Tory Rocca (R-Sterling Heights) attempted to remove this appropriation.
Lansing City Clerk
Chris Swope expressed concern over these changes creating confusion for voters,
and a likely increased wait time. Mr. Swope also believes this could cause a
problem for illiterate voters, who look at the vignette to understand who
they’re voting for.
Senator Marty
Knollenberg (R-Troy) explains this bill does not eliminate straight ticket
voting, rather it eliminates the box at the top of the ballot. SB 13 cleared
the chamber 23-13.
Senate Prohibits Paid Union Release: The Senate passed SB
279 and SB
280, bills to prohibit computing the retirement allowance of public school
employees based on employee organization professional services leave or release
time, and prohibit public employer contracts that pay union officials for time
used conducting union business.
Senator Marty
Knollenberg (R-Troy), primary sponsor of the bills, said the purpose was to
ensure taxpayers weren’t paying for union work. Democrats disagreed with that
statement, stating the bills would force taxpayers to pay public sector management
overtime for having to conduct union business outside of normal business hours.
According to an
analysis by the Senate Fiscal Agency, SB 279 would cost the School Aid Fund
$900,000, but SB 280 could see a total cost savings of $2.7 million.
SB 279 cleared the
chamber 25-12 with Senate Democrats and Senator Tory Rocca (R-Sterling Heights)
opposing. SB 280 cleared the chamber 20-17 with Senate Democrats and Senator
Tory Rocca, Senator Tom Casperson (R-Escanaba), Senator Ken Horn
(R-Frankenmuth), Senator Rick Jones (R-Grand Ledge), Senator Margaret O’Brien
(R-Portage), and Senator Dale Zorn (R-Ida) all opposing. Senator Mike Nofs
(R-Battle Creek) was absent from the votes.
Senate Changes Oakland County Executive Election: SB
110 changes the Oakland County executive election to gubernatorial election
years. This bill will keep Southeast Michigan executive elections consistent,
as Wayne and Macomb counties hold executive elections in those years.
Language in SB 110
requires the Oakland County Board of Commissioners to approve the legislation
by April 1, 2016, with the deadline to file for the election of county
executive 15 days later. For this, and a few other reasons, Senator Vincent
Gregory (D-Southfield) strongly opposes this bill. He feels there has never
been an issue with an Oakland County election previously, so he doesn’t
understand the need for change.
If Oakland County
makes the switch, the winner of the 2016 election would serve a two-year term,
with the next election occurring in 2018 for a four-year term.