In applying the doctrine of abstention, a federal court is vested with discretion to decline to exercise or to postpone the exercise of its jurisdiction in deference to state court resolution of underlying issues of state law. Where resolution of the federal constitutional question is dependent upon, or may be materially altered by, the determination of an uncertain issue of state law, abstention may be proper in order to avoid unnecessary friction in federal-state relations, interference with important state functions, tentative decisions on questions of state law, and premature constitutional adjudication. (citation omitted)
No county registrar may require any affidavits or questionnaires in addition to the information required on the application for a voter-registration certificate.
No function is more essential to the separate and independent existence of the States and their governments than the power to determine within the limits of the Constitution the qualifications of *929 their own voters for state, county, and municipal offices and the nature of their own machinery for filling local public offices.
In a matter of such importance to the States and their governments, a federal court should be slow to intervene, but should instead avoid needless conflict with the administration by the State of its own affairs.
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