LANSING – The Michigan Attorney General asked the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday for an emergency stay within a week of a lower court ruling striking down Michigan’s new law ending the option for voters to choose a political party’s slate of candidates with a single mark on the ballot.

The state asked the appeals court to stay U.S. District Court Judge Gershwin Drain’s ruling through the November election. In its motion, the state says Drain’s proposed schedule, coupled with the deadline at the end of the month for printing ballots, necessitates emergency action.

At stake is PA 268 of 2015, which ended the state’s century-plus tradition of allowing voters to cast a straight-party ballot with a single mark.

Drain sided with the plaintiffs and agreed the law would cast a disproportionate burden on African-American voters, who use the straight ticket option in much larger numbers than other voters.

Republicans have wanted to scrap straight ticket voting for years, seeing the option as an advantage for Democrats.

“Immediate relief is necessary because the district court is treating defendant’s emergency motion for stay as a non-emergency,” the state says in its motion. “Enjoining this particular statute, this close to the general election, creates the possibility of voter confusion and runs contrary to the public’s interest in the smooth administration of elections. This court must stay the district court’s preliminary injunction and allow PA 268 to remain in effect for the November 8, 2016 election.”

Additionally, the Attorney General requested an initial hearing on the case from the court en banc, meaning from the full complement of the court’s 23 sitting judges instead of the usual three-judge panel.

The majority of the 6th circuit was appointed by Republican presidents and is generally considered one of the more conservative appellate benches in the country.

In the motion, the state disputes Drain’s ruling, saying there is no evidence that African-American voters would suffer harm from the loss of straight ticket voting.

“It is hardly burdensome to cast a vote for one’s preferred candidate and minorities have precisely the same ‘opportunity’ as non-minorities – all any voter has to do is fill in the oval next to the voter’s desired candidate,” the state says.

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