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The straight ticket voting checkbox would be absent from the Michigan ballot, under a bill that cleared the legislature Wednesday night.
The legislation passed mostly along party-lines in both the House and Senate.
Majority Republicans backed the measure saying it would allow the voting public to fully engage in the democratic process by choosing candidates based on their merit and not on party affiliation.
Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof says more and more people are not identifying by party noting that 40 other states have already eliminated straight ticket voting.
But Democrats argue it would disenfranchise voters, especially minorities in urban areas that tend to vote straight ticket.
Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich says the bill is a major step backward for the state. He says lawmakers should be trying to make voting easier, not adding more hurdles.
The legislation also includes a $5 million appropriation for implementing the change. But Senate Democrat Curtis Hertel (hur-TELL) says the real reason for the appropriation is to make it referendum proof.
County and local clerks have also opposed the change saying it would slow down the voting process.
The bill and another measure to allow for no-reason absentee voting were tie-barred, meaning if one bill failed they both did. But the Senate broke the tie-bar. House Republican Lisa Posthumus-Lyons, who backed no-reason absentee, voted no on the bill.
The measure now goes to the governor.
