Legislative Analysis
REMOVING PARTY VIGNETTES FROM BALLOTS

Phone: (517) 373-8080
http://www.house.mi.gov/hfa

House Bill 4177 as introduced
Sponsor: Rep. Hank Vaupel

Analysis available at
http://www.legislature.mi.gov

House Bill 4178 as introduced
Sponsor: Rep. Edward J. Canfield, D.O.
Committee: Elections and Ethics
Complete to 2-22-17
SUMMARY:
House Bill 4177 would amend Michigan Election Law (MCL 168.283 et al) to remove therequirement that party vignettes be printed with a political party's name on a ballot, andwould remove references to vignettes throughout the Election Law.
According to Section 684, which would be repealed under the bill, "vignettes" are currently
adopted by each political party to be a distinctive and characteristic representation of theparty on the ballot. They may be no larger than 1.5 inches square, and must set forth legibly
the name of the political party. (Vignettes for Michigan political parties are pictured
below.)
House Bill 4177 would also repeal Section 775 of the Law, which provides that vignettes
be printed on ballot labels.
Also under the bill, a petition to form a new political party submitted after the bill takes
effect would no longer need to contain a proposed vignette.
House Bill 4178 would amend the Michigan Campaign Finance Act (MCL 169.220) toremove the requirement that a candidate be nominated by a party that qualifies to have its
party vignette on the ballot under Section 685 of the Election Law. The bill is tie-barredto House Bill 4177, meaning that it could not take effect unless HB 4177 is also enacted.
Both bills would take effect 90 days after enactment.
BACKGROUND:House Bills 4177 and 4178 are identical to House Bills 5723 and 5724 of the 2015-2016
legislative session. Those bills were introduced to address an issue presented by Senate
Bill 13 (Public Act 268 of 2015), a bill eliminating straight ticket voting, which was signed
into law by Governor Snyder in December 2015. SB 13 made no mention of vignettes,
which are typically utilized in order to facilitate straight ticket voting. There was concernthat the elimination of the straight ticket voting option without the removal of the vignettes
would result in voter confusion—that voters, left without the option of voting straight party
for the first time, would simply circle the party vignette.

House Fiscal Agency

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A preliminary injunction, issued by federal district judge Gershwin A. Drain, blocked
implementation of the straight party voting ban. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals
declined to stay the injunction, meaning that straight ticket voting was an option in theNovember 2016 presidential election. Appeals court judge Ronald Lee Gilman noted in
his concurring opinion that "[t]he continued presence of vignettes on the ballot certainly
appears to be a legislative oversight...."
According to the Michigan Secretary of State website, the following vignettes, displayedin the following order, applied to ballots produced through the 2016 cycle:
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/sos/OrderPoliticalPartyVignettes_482646_7.pdf

FISCAL IMPACT:The bills would have no fiscal impact on the state or local governments.

Legislative Analyst: Jenny McInerney
Fiscal Analyst: Michael Cnossen■ This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency staff for use by House members in theirdeliberations, and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.

House Fiscal Agency

HB 4177 & 4178 as introduced

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