BUCKLEY v. VALEO
Per Curiam
Finally, appellants challenge the validity of the 5%
threshold requirement for general election funding. They
argue that, since most state regulations governing ballot
access have threshold requirements well below 5%, and
because in their view the 5% requirement here is actually
stricter than that upheld in Jenness v. Fortson,403 U. S.
431 (1971), 39 the requirement is unreasonable. We
have already concluded that the restriction under Chapter
95 is generally less burdensome than ballot-access regulations. Supra, at 94-95. Further, the Georgia provision
sustained in Jenness required the candidate to obtain the
signatures of 5% of all eligible voters, without regard to
party. To be sure, the public funding formula does not
permit anyone who voted for another party in the last
election to be part of a candidate's 5%. But under
Chapter 95 a Presidential candidate needs only 5% or
more of the actual vote, not the larger universe of eligible
voters. As a result, we cannot say that Chapter 95 is
numerically more, or less, restrictive than the regulation
in Jenness. In any event, the choice of the percentage
requirement that best accommodates the competing interests involved was for Congress to make. See Louisville Gas Co. v. Coleman, 277 U. S. 32, 41 (1928)
(Holmes, J., dissenting); n. 111, supra. Without any
doubt a range of formulations would sufficiently protect
the public fise and not foster factionalism, and would also
recognize the public interest in the fluidity of our political
139 It is also argued that Storer v. Brown, 415 U. S. 724 (1974),
is a better analogy than Jenness. In Storer a candidate could qualify
for the ballot by obtaining the signatures of 5% of the voters, but
the signatures could not include any voters who voted for another
candidate at the primary election. 415 U. S., at 739. The analogy,
however, i~sno better than Jenness. The Chapter 95 formula is not
more restrictive than that sustained in the two cases, since for the
reasons stated earlier, supra, at 94-95, it burdens minority interests
less than ballot-access regulations.
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