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 Opinion of the Court JUSTICE WHITE delivered the opinion of the Court. The issue in this case is whether Hawaii's prohibition on write-in voting unreasonably infringes upon its citizens' rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Petitioner contends that the Constitution requires Hawaii to provide for the casting, tabulation, and publication of write-in votes. The Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit disagreed, holding that the prohibition, taken as part of the State's comprehensive election scheme, does not impermissibly burden the right to vote. 937 F. 2d 415, 422 (1991). We affirm. I Petitioner is a registered voter in the city and county of Honolulu. In 1986, only one candidate filed nominating papers to run for the seat representing petitioner's district in the Hawaii House of Representatives. Petitioner wrote to state officials inquiring about Hawaii's write-in voting policy and received a copy of an opinion letter issued by the Hawaii Attorney General's Office stating that the State's election law made no provision for write-in voting. 1 App. 38-39, 49. Petitioner then filed this lawsuit, claiming that he wished to vote in the primary and general elections for a person who had not filed nominating papers and that he wished to vote in future elections for other persons whose names might not appear on the ballot. Id., at 32-33. The United States District Court for the District of Hawaii concluded that the ban on write-in voting violated petitioner's First Amendment right of expression and association and entered a preliminary injunction ordering respondents to provide for the casting and tallying of write-in votes in the November 1986 general Barnett of South Dakota, Paul Van Dam of Utah, Joseph B. Meyer of Wyoming, and Robert Naraja of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. James C. Linger filed a brief for Andre Marrou et al. as amici curiae. Opinion of the Court election. App. to Pet. for Cert. 67a-77a. The District Court denied a stay pending appeal. 1 App. 76-107. The Court of Appeals entered the stay, id., at 109, and vacated the judgment of the District Court, reasoning that consideration of the federal constitutional question raised by petitioner was premature because "neither the plain language of Hawaii statutes nor any definitive judicial interpretation of those statutes establishes that the Hawaii legislature has enacted a ban on write-in voting," Burdick v. Takushi, 846 F. 2d 587, 588 (CA9 1988). Accordingly, the Court of Appeals ordered the District Court to abstain, see Railroad Comm'n of Texas v. Pullman Co., 312 U. S. 496 (1941), until state courts had determined whether Hawaii's election laws permitted write-in voting.1 On remand, the District Court certified the following three questions to the Supreme Court of Hawaii: "(1) Does the Constitution of the State of Hawaii require Hawaii's election officials to permit the casting of write-in votes and require Hawaii's election officials to count and publish write-in votes? "(2) Do Hawaii's election laws require Hawaii's election officials to permit the casting of write-in votes and require Hawaii's election officials to count and publish write-in votes? "(3) Do Hawaii's election laws permit, but not require, Hawaii's election officials to allow voters to cast writein votes and to count and publish write-in votes?" App. to Pet. for Cert. 56a-57a. 1 While petitioner's appeal was pending, he became concerned that the Court of Appeals might not enter its decision before the September 1988 primary election. Accordingly, petitioner filed a second suit challenging the unavailability of write-in voting in the 1988 election. Burdick v. Cayetano, Civ. No. 99-0365. Coincidentally, petitioner's new suit was filed on the very day that the Ninth Circuit decided the appeal stemming from petitioner's original complaint. The two actions subsequently were consolidated by the District Court. 1 App. 142. Opinion of the Court Hawaii's high court answered "No" to all three questions, holding that Hawaii's election laws barred write-in voting and that these measures were consistent with the State's Constitution. Burdick v. Takushi, 70 Haw. 498, 776 P. 2d 824 (1989). The United States District Court then granted petitioner's renewed motion for summary judgment and injunctive relief, but entered a stay pending appeal. 737 F. Supp. 582 (Haw. 1990). The Court of Appeals again reversed, holding that Hawaii was not required to provide for write-in votes: "Although the prohibition on write-in voting places some restrictions on [petitioner's] rights of expression and association, that burden is justified in light of the ease of access to Hawaii's ballots, the alternatives available to [petitioner] for expressing his political beliefs, the State's broad powers to regulate elections, and the specific interests advanced by the State." 937 F. 2d, at 421.2 In so ruling, the Ninth Circuit expressly declined to follow an earlier decision regarding write-in voting by the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. See ibid., citing Dixon v. Maryland State Administrative Bd. of Election Laws, 878 F.2d 776 (CA4 1989). We granted certiorari to resolve the disagreement on this important question. 502 U. S. 1003 (1991). II Petitioner proceeds from the erroneous assumption that a law that imposes any burden upon the right to vote must be subject to strict scrutiny. Our cases do not so hold. 2 The Ninth Circuit panel issued its opinion on March 1, 1991. See Burdick v. Takushi, 927 F. 2d 469. On June 28, 1991, the Court of Appeals denied petitioner's petition for rehearing and suggestion for rehearing en banc, and the panel withdrew its original opinion and issued the version that appears at 937 F. 2d 415. Opinion of the Court It is beyond cavil that "voting is of the most fundamental significance under our constitutional structure." Illinois Bd. of Elections v. Socialist Workers Party, 440 U. S. 173, 184 (1979). It does not follow, however, that the right to vote in any manner and the right to associate for political purposes through the ballot are absolute. Munro v. Socialist Workers Party, 479 U. S. 189, 193 (1986). The Constitution provides that States may prescribe "[t]he Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives," Art. I, §4, cl. 1, and the Court therefore has recognized that States retain the power to regulate their own elections. Sugarman v. Dougall, 413 U. S. 634, 647 (1973); Tashjian v. Republican Party of Connecticut, 479 U. S. 208, 217 (1986). Common sense, as well as constitutional law, compels the conclusion that government must play an active role in structuring elections; "as a practical matter, there must be a substantial regulation of elections if they are to be fair and honest and if some sort of order, rather than chaos, is to accompany the democratic processes." Storer v. Brown, 415 U. S. 724, 730 (1974). Election laws will invariably impose some burden upon individual voters. Each provision of a code, "whether it governs the registration and qualifications of voters, the selection and eligibility of candidates, or the voting process itself, inevitably affects-at least to some degree-the individual's right to vote and his right to associate with others for political ends." Anderson v. Celebrezze, 460 U. S. 780, 788 (1983). Consequently, to subject every voting regulation to strict scrutiny and to require that the regulation be narrowly tailored to advance a compelling state interest, as petitioner suggests, would tie the hands of States seeking to assure that elections are operated equitably and efficiently. See Brief for Petitioner 32-37. Accordingly, the mere fact that a State's system "creates barriers. . . tending to limit the field of candidates from which voters might choose... does not of itself compel close scrutiny." Bullock v. Carter, 405 |