Cite as: 520 U. S. 351 (1997)
Stevens, J., dissenting
the ballot altogether, and publicly endorse the candidate of another party. But the right to be on the election ballot is precisely what separates a political party from any other interest group.2 The Court relies on the fact that the Party remains free "to spread its message to all who will listen," ante, at 361, through forums other than the ballot. Given the limited resources available to most minor parties, and the less-than-universal interest in the messages of third parties, it is apparent that the Party's message will, in this manner, reach a much smaller audience than that composed of all voters who can read the ballot in the polling booth.
The majority rejects as unimportant the limits that the fusion ban may impose on the Party's ability to express its political views, ante, at 362-363, relying on our decision in Burdick v. Takushi, 504 U. S. 428, 445 (1992), in which we noted that "the purpose of casting, counting, and recording votes is to elect public officials, not to serve as a general forum for political expression." But in Burdick we concluded simply that an individual voter's interest in expressing his disapproval of the single candidate running for office in a particular election did not require the State to finance and provide a mechanism for tabulating write-in votes. Our conclusion that the ballot is not principally a forum for the individual expression of political sentiment through the casting of a vote does not justify the conclusion that the ballot serves no expressive purpose for the parties who place candidates on the ballot. Indeed, the long-recognized right to choose a " 'standard bearer who best represents the party's ideologies and preferences,' " Eu, 489 U. S., at 224, is inescapably an expressive right. "To the extent that party labels
2 We have recognized that "[t]here is no evidence that an endorsement issued by an official party organization carries more weight than one issued by a newspaper or a labor union." Eu v. San Francisco County Democratic Central Comm., 489 U. S. 214, 228, n. 18 (1989). Given this reality, I cannot agree with the majority's implicit equation of the right to endorse with the right to nominate.
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