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sible election-related regulation from unconstitutional infringements on First Amendment freedoms. Storer v. Brown, 415 U. S. 724, 730. Pp. 356-359. (b) Minnesota's fusion ban does not severely burden the New Party's associational rights. The State's laws do not restrict the ability of the party and its members to endorse, support, or vote for anyone they like or directly limit the party's access to the ballot. The party's preferred candidate will still appear on the ballot, although as another party's candidate. The laws are also silent on parties' internal structure, governance, and policymaking. Eu v. San Francisco County Democratic Central Comm., 489 U. S. 214, and Tashjian v. Republican Party of Conn., 479 U. S. 208, distinguished. Instead, these provisions reduce the universe of potential candidates who may appear on the ballot as the party's nominee and limit, slightly, the party's ability to send a particularized message, to its candidate and to the voters, about the nature of its support for the candidate. However, ballots are designed primarily to elect candidates, not to serve as forums for political expression. See Burdick, supra, at 438. Pp. 359-363. (c) Because Minnesota's fusion ban does not impose a severe burden on the New Party's rights, the State is required to show, not that the ban was narrowly tailored to serve compelling state interests, but that the State's asserted regulatory interests are "sufficiently weighty to justify the limitation" on the party's rights. Norman v. Reed, 502 U. S. 279, 288-289. Elaborate, empirical verification of weightiness is not required. See Munro v. Socialist Workers Party, 479 U. S. 189, 195-196. Here, the burden is justified by "correspondingly weighty" valid state interests in ballot integrity and political stability. States certainly have an interest in protecting the integrity, fairness, and efficiency of their ballots and election processes as means for electing public officials. E. g., Bullock v. Carter, 405 U. S. 134, 145. Minnesota fears that a candidate or party could easily exploit fusion as a way of associating his or its name with popular slogans and catchphrases, transforming the ballot from a means of choosing candidates to a billboard for political advertising. It is also concerned that fusion might enable minor parties, by nominating a major party's candidate, to bootstrap their way to major-party status in the next election and circumvent the State's nominating-petition requirement for minor parties, which is designed to ensure that only bona fide minor and third parties are granted access to the ballot. The State's strong interest in the stability of its political systems, see, e. g., Eu, supra, at 226, does not permit it to completely insulate the two-party system from minor parties' or independent candidates' competition and influence, e. g., Anderson v. Celebrezze, 460 U. S. 780, 802, and is not a paternalistic license for States to protect political
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