LANSING — Straight-ticket voting won't be available as an option in the Nov. 6 general election, under a federal appeals court ruling released late Wednesday.

The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision marked by a sharply worded dissent, blocked a ruling by a federal judge in Detroit that would have struck down a 2016 law passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature to ban straight-ticket voting in Michigan.

There was no immediate word on a further appeal of the ruling, but there is little time before the Michigan ballot is finalized.

U.S. District Judge Gershwin Drain declared the law unconstitutional in August, following a bench trial. Drain said the ban on straight-ticket voting "presents a disproportionate burden on African Americans' right to vote," partly because, in Michigan's most populous counties, there is a strong correlation between the size of the black voting population and the use of straight-ticket voting.

Many local clerks said a ban on straight-ticket voting could result in lengthy delays to vote in cities such as Detroit and Flint.

More:Judge says GOP's straight ticket voting is here to stay

But Secretary of State Ruth Johnson appealed the ruling, and late Wednesday the 6th Circuit granted the state official's motion to stay the ruling, meaning it is without effect. The appeal continues, but the 6th Circuit, in putting a hold on Drain's ruling, said that Johnson is likely to prevail.

The appeals court said "there are very serious problems with both the factual underpinnings and the legal analysis" of the lower court's opinion.

The majority said Drain "likely committed clear error" when he found that the plaintiffs -- the Michigan State A. Philip Randolph Institute and some individual Michigan voters -- had shown that the Michigan Legislature "intentionally discriminated against African Americans" in passing the law.

The panel rejected evidence from the plaintiffs that it would take about three minutes -- or 25 percent -- longer to vote by marking each choice individually for those who normally vote by straight ticket, and that longer voting times for those voters would result in delays for all voters.

"The three-minute increase is essentially pulled out of the air," and there is no clear evidence that longer voting times for some voters would result in longer wait times to vote, the panel said.

The ruling said that many states have banned straight-ticket voting in recent years and "the alleged evils of eliminating Michigan's straight-ticket voting system seem unlikely to outweigh the ability of a state to make public policy choice common among all 50 states.

"The irreparable harm to voters in taking what would be at most very small additional time to register their choices, an additional time largely within the control of the voter, is very small."

Judge Danny Boggs wrote the majority opinion, joined by Judge Raymond Kethledge. Judge Bernice Donald dissented.

In her dissent, Donald said the panel's ruling "ignores the 150 years of shameful and painful history of disenfranchisement, suppression, and dilution of African American voters and the overt and covert mechanisms used to achieve that objective."

She said the panel should have given more deference to the factual findings made by Drain.

"It is indisputable that the elimination of straight-party voting will amount to increased wait times for voters in Michigan," Donald wrote.

Johnson issued a statement Wednesday night that said she was pleased with the ruling and happy it was issued in time to complete the ballots according to the normal schedule and educate voters about the change.

“Michigan now joins more than 40 other states in which voters choose the person instead of the party," Johnson said.

"For too long, important ballot questions and nonpartisan offices, including judges of all types, were skipped over by people who marked a straight ticket thinking they had voted their full ballot.”

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.