Cite as: 504 U. S. 428 (1992)
Syllabus
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. 434-439. (c) Hawaii's asserted interests in avoiding the possibility of unrestrained 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. 439-440. (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 Amendment 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. 441-442. 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, post, p. 442.
Arthur N. Eisenberg argued the cause for petitioner. With him on the briefs were Steven R. Shapiro, John A. Powell, Mary Blaine Johnston, Carl Varady, Paul W. Kahn, Lawrence G. Sager, Burt Neuborne, and Alan B. Burdick, pro se.
Steven S. Michaels, Deputy Attorney General of Hawaii, argued the cause for respondents. With him on the brief were Warren Price III, Attorney General, and Girard D. Lau, Deputy Attorney General.*
*Briefs of amici curiae urging reversal were filed for Common Cause/ Hawaii by Stanley E. Levin; for the Hawaii Libertarian Party by Arlo Hale Smith; and for the Socialist Workers Party by Edward Copeland and Eric M. Lieberman.
A brief of amici curiae urging affirmance was filed for the State of Arizona et al. by Frankie Sue Del Papa, Attorney General of Nevada, and Kateri Cavin, Deputy Attorney General, and by the Attorneys General for their respective jurisdictions as follows: Grant Woods of Arizona, Robert A. Butterworth of Florida, Richard P. Ieyoub of Louisiana, Lacy H. Thornburg of North Carolina, Susan Brimer Loving of Oklahoma, Mark
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