Michigan Poll Workers Told Voters They Can’t Split Their Tickets, RNC Says. The Constitution Says They Can

Michigan voters were told something false at the polls on Tuesday, according to the Republican National Committee, and it is the one thing that matters most in the state’s Senate race.

The RNC’s lawyers emailed every county clerk in the state Election Day afternoon. Their letter says they “have received credible reports from across Michigan that election inspectors are telling voters that, if they vote a straight party ticket, they may not cross over and vote for a candidate from the other party.”

“As you know, that is false,” wrote Luke Bunting, the RNC’s election integrity counsel, and James F. Hasson, its senior counsel. The party’s Election Integrity account posted the letter on 𝕏: “Michigan law is clear. We’re taking action.”

What the law actually says

It isn’t a gray area. Michigan voters put the straight-party option into the state constitution in 2018, and the same sentence that guarantees it guarantees the way out. Article II, Section 4(1)(c) gives every registered voter “a ‘straight party’ vote option on partisan general election ballots,” then adds one more sentence: “The voter may vote a split or mixed ticket.”

Here’s how it works. Fill in the oval for one party at the top, and every partisan race on the ballot goes to that party’s candidates. Then fill in a candidate from the other party in any single race, and that pick wins that race. County clerks’ own voter guidance puts it plainly: each candidate of the chosen party gets a vote “except where superseded by a direct vote for a candidate.”

So a Democrat can fill in the Democratic oval, then fill in Mike Rogers for Senate, and the ballot counts exactly the way the voter meant it. Telling that voter otherwise is like a cashier telling you a coupon cancels the rest of your order.

Why it matters in this race

This isn’t an abstract civics point in Michigan this year. The whole late shape of the Senate race runs on Democrats crossing over.

Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens endorsed Rogers, the Republican, over Democrat Abdul El-Sayed on Sunday in a video on her own 𝕏 account: “I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate today.” Rogers put her in his Election Day video. “My vote for Senate is going to be with Mike Rogers,” Stevens says in it, “because we have to stand with country.”

Republican John James made the same pitch in the governor’s race Tuesday morning: “You don’t need to be a Republican to DEMAND CHANGE.” Detroit City Councilwoman Mary Waters, a Democrat, told the New York Post on Monday that voters who liked Rogers shouldn’t feel they can’t vote for him. “You can, if you want to,” she said.

A Democrat who has voted straight-party for 30 years is precisely the voter who fills in the party oval first. If someone at the table tells that voter a Rogers vote won’t count, or isn’t allowed, the crossover never makes it onto the ballot.

What the letter doesn’t say

The RNC’s public letter doesn’t name a county, a city or a precinct, and it doesn’t say how many voters were affected. It says the reports came from “across Michigan.” We haven’t been able to confirm any individual case.

There is an easy way for honest confusion to happen: in Michigan’s primaries, voters can’t cross parties at all, and partisan votes for more than one party don’t count. That rule did not apply on Tuesday. Poll workers trained on the primary rule, or voters who remembered it, may have mixed them up.

That is exactly why the person in charge should have said something. The letter says Michigan’s Secretary of State “has been notified and has taken steps to address this issue.” It doesn’t say what those steps were.

The Secretary of State is Jocelyn Benson, and she is also the Democratic nominee for governor, on the same ballot, running against James. Her office’s 𝕏 account posted Election Day reminders Tuesday morning, and her campaign account posted about casting her own vote. Neither had said anything about split-ticket voting as of Tuesday evening. This is the same office that tried to have electronic poll books wiped a week after certification until a court stopped it.

What happens next

Polls in Michigan close at 8 p.m., and anyone in line by then can still vote. Ballots already cast are counted as marked, so a voter who filled in the Democratic oval and Rogers anyway gets a Rogers vote. The harm, if the reports hold up, is to voters who were talked out of it.

The RNC says it is “monitoring this issue in real time” and is “prepared to take whatever actions are necessary to protect Michiganders’ rights to vote for the candidates of their choosing.” If the Senate race comes down to a thin margin, which reports turn out to be real and where will matter.