On December 10, the Initiative & Referendum Institute filed its cert petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, in its lawsuit against the Postal Service regulation that prevents voters from signing a petition on an interior post office sidewalk. The case number hasn’t been assigned yet, but the case is Initiative & Referendum Institute v Postal Service. The regulation permits circulators to stand on interior post office sidewalks and ask passers-by if they wish to sign a petition. But if the individual agrees, then both the circulator and potential signer must then leave that sidewalk and go somewhere else. Even the U.S. Court of Appeals, D.C. Circuit, had a concurrence saying the existing policy didn’t make sense. But the D.C. Circuit still upheld the regulation.

UPDATE: here is the cert petition.

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.

On December 8, Louisiana is holding a run-off for U.S. House, 3rd district. Louisiana and Georgia are the only states that require congressional run-offs when no one gets 50% of the vote in November. In Louisiana, Charles Boustany and Jeff Landry are the run-off candidates. Both are incumbent Republicans. Louisiana lost one U.S. House seat after the 2010 census, so these two incumbents were forced into the same district. There were five candidates in this race in November, and no one got as much as 50%.