In November 2008, the official North Dakota election returns show that in one precinct in Grant County, North Dakota, Bob Barr (Libertarian presidential nominee) carried one of the four precincts, and placed second in the county to John McCain. See this story from four years ago for the details. Chuck Baldwin, the Constitution Party nominee in 2008, also did very well in that one precinct.
But in 2012, Grant County’s presidential vote was unexceptional. Gary Johnson polled 1.56% in the county, which was below his statewide showing. Virgil Goode polled .92% in the county, which was higher than his statewide showing, but not markedly so.
Any idea what accounted for the anomaly in 2008? Even after re-reading the 2008 article I am still confused.
The comments indicate that it was a clerical error – votes were transposed between candidates.
I wonder if the same holds true for Wibaux County, Montana this year (clerical error).
#3, no, the Wibaux County vote is definitely not an error. Wibaux County in November 2008 gave 4.4% of its vote to Ron Paul, who was on the ballot as the Constitution Party nominee (even though Ron Paul didn’t want to be on the November ballot in Montana). Also the Wibaux County election official several weeks ago told me the Gary Johnson vote was no error.
Wibaux County was an error. They’ve corrected it.
What is the current result there?
I dimly recall that Pat Buchanan’s best showing in 2000 was in a county in ND-this is probably that county.
No, it was Kidder County at 9.40%.