220
Stevens, J., dissenting
ute is in fact necessary to serve the State's interests. From its review of the history of electoral reform, the plurality finds that
"all 50 States . . . settled on the same solution: a secret ballot secured in part by a restricted zone around the voting compartments. We find that this widespread and time-tested consensus demonstrates that some restricted zone is necessary in order to serve the States' compelling interest in preventing voter intimidation and election fraud." Ante, at 206 (emphasis added). This analysis is deeply flawed; it confuses history with necessity, and mistakes the traditional for the indispensable. The plurality's reasoning combines two logical errors: First, the plurality assumes that a practice's long life itself establishes its necessity; and second, the plurality assumes that a practice that was once necessary remains necessary until it is ended.3
With regard to the first, the fact that campaign-free zones were, as the plurality indicates, introduced as part of a broader package of electoral reforms does not demonstrate that such zones were necessary. The abuses that affected the electoral system could have been cured by the institution of the secret ballot and by the heightened regulation of the polling place alone, without silencing the political speech outside the polling place.4 In my opinion, more than mere timing is required to infer necessity from tradition.
3 I leave it to historians to review the substantive accuracy of the plurality's narrative, for I find more disturbing the plurality's use of history.
4 The plurality's suggestion that "[t]he only way to preserve the secrecy of the ballot is to limit access to the area around the voter," ante, at 207-208, is specious. First, there are obvious and simple means of preserving voter secrecy (e. g., opaque doors or curtains on the voting booth) that do not involve the suppression of political speech. Second, there is no disagreement that the restrictions on campaigning within the polling place are constitutional; the issue is not whether the State may limit access to the "area around the voter" but whether the State may limit speech in the area around the polling place.
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