Both sides in the lawsuit Libertarian Party v District of Columbia Board of Elections will meet with a mediator on September 26, to attempt to settle the lawsuit. If no agreement can be reached, the case will proceed to the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit. The issue is whether the Board must tally the write-in votes for declared write-in presidential candidates. In 2008 Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party nominee, was the only presidential candidate who filed for declared write-in status. He submitted the names of three candidates for presidential elector. No other write-in presidential candidate took this step. However, the Board refused to tally his write-ins, even though federal law requires all jurisdictions that have electoral votes to report the number of valid votes for all presidential candidates to the federal archives.

The U.S. District Court earlier ruled that the Board’s interest in saving money and effort is more important than the ability of voters to have their valid votes counted. Then, the Board had sought to persuade the U.S. Court of Appeals to dismiss the case, but the Appeals court rejected that attempt, so the case is still pending.