Cite as: 528 U. S. 250 (2000)
Opinion of the Court
surrounded, what could it refer to except an election for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, the subject of such relentless repetition? To ask the question is merely to apply an interpretive rule as familiar outside the law as it is within, for words and people are known by their companions. See Gustafson v. Alloyd Co., 513 U. S. 561, 575 (1995) ("[A] word is known by the company it keeps"); Jarecki v. G. D. Searle & Co., 367 U. S. 303, 307 (1961) ("The maxim noscitur a sociis, . . . while not an inescapable rule, is often wisely applied where a word is capable of many meanings in order to avoid the giving of unintended breadth to the Acts of Congress"). Cf. Foster v. Love, 522 U. S. 67, 71 (1997) ("When the federal statutes speak of 'the election' of a Senator or Representative, they plainly refer to the combined actions of voters and officials meant to make a final selection of an officeholder (subject only to the possibility of a later run-off . . . )").
Other clues confirm that Congress did not shift its attention when it used "any election" unadorned by a gubernatorial reference or other definite modifier. Later on in the same provision, Congress did vary the specific modifier when it spoke of the "general election" at which the gubernatorial election would occur; it is thus significant that Congress did not peg the majority-vote requirement to "votes cast in any [general] election." Congress would hardly have used "any election" to mean "general election," only to mention "general election" a few lines further on.
It would be equally odd to think that after repeatedly using "votes" or "vote" to mean an expression of choice for the gubernatorial slate, Congress suddenly used "votes cast in any election" to mean "ballots cast." And yet that is just what would be required if we were to treat the phrase respondents' way, for they read "votes cast in any election" as referring to "ballots containing a vote for any office." Surely a Congress that meant to refer to ballots, midway through a statute repeatedly referring to "votes" for guber-
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