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91-0535.ZS
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1993-11-06
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NOTE: Where it is feasible, a syllabus (headnote) will be released, as is
being done in connection with this case, at the time the opinion is issued.
The syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but has been
prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader.
See United States v. Detroit Lumber Co., 200 U. S. 321, 337.
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
Syllabus
BURDICK v. TAKUSHI, DIRECTOR OF ELECTIONS
OF HAWAII, et al.
certiorari to the united states court of appeals for
the ninth circuit
No. 91-535. Argued March 24, 1992-Decided June 8, 1992
Petitioner, a registered Honolulu voter, filed suit against respondent
state officials, claiming that Hawaii's prohibition on write-in voting
violated his rights of expression and association under the First and
Fourteenth Amendments. The District Court ultimately granted his
motion for summary judgment and injunctive relief, but the Court of
Appeals reversed, holding that the prohibition, taken as part of the
State's comprehensive election scheme, does not impermissibly burden
the right to vote.
Held:Hawaii's prohibition on write-in voting does not unreasonably
infringe upon its citizens' rights under the First and Fourteenth
Amendments. Pp.4-13.
(a)Petitioner assumes erroneously that a law that imposes any
burden on the right to vote must be subject to strict scrutiny. This
Court's cases have applied a more flexible standard: A court consid-
ering a state election law challenge must weigh the character and
magnitude of the asserted injury to the First and Fourteenth Amend-
ment rights that the plaintiff seeks to vindicate against the precise
interests put forward by the State as justification for the burden
imposed by its rule, taking into consideration the extent to which
those interests make it necessary to burden the plaintiff's rights.
Anderson v. Celebrezze, 460 U.S. 780, 788-789. Under this stan-
dard, a regulation must be narrowly drawn to advance a state
interest of compelling importance only when it subjects the voters'
rights to ``severe'' restrictions. Norman v. Reed, 502 U.S. ___, ___.
If it imposes only ``reasonable, nondiscriminatory restrictions'' upon
those rights, the State's important regulatory interests are generally
sufficient to justify the restrictions. Anderson, supra, at 788.
Pp.4-6.
(b)Hawaii's write-in vote prohibition imposes a very limited
burden upon voters' rights to associate politically through the vote
and to have candidates of their choice placed on the ballot. Because
the State's election laws provide easy access to the primary ballot
until the cut-off date for the filing of nominating petitions, two
months before the primary, any burden on the voters' rights is borne
only by those who fail to identify their candidate of choice until
shortly before the primary. An interest in making a late rather than
an early decision is entitled to little weight. Cf. Storer v. Brown,
415 U.S. 724, 736. Pp.6-10.
(c)Hawaii's asserted interests in avoiding the possibility of unre-
strained factionalism at the general election and in guarding against
``party raiding'' during the primaries are legitimate and are sufficient
to outweigh the limited burden that the write-in voting ban imposes
upon voters. Pp.10-12.
(d)Indeed, the foregoing analysis leads to the conclusion that
where, as here, a State's ballot access laws pass constitutional muster
as imposing only reasonable burdens on First and Fourteenth Amend-
ment rights, a write-in voting prohibition will be presumptively valid,
since any burden on the right to vote for the candidate of one's choice
will be light and normally will be counterbalanced by the very state
interests supporting the ballot access scheme. Pp.12-13.
937 F.2d 415, affirmed.
White, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Rehnquist,
C. J., and O'Connor, Scalia, Souter, and Thomas, JJ., joined.
Kennedy, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Blackmun and
Stevens, JJ., joined.