Where are the 1,857 potatoes Cards Against Humanity mailed to Wisconsin’s senator?

It seems like it would be difficult to lose track of 1,857 potatoes sent through the mail. But Cards Against Humanity didn’t get to witness delivery of a shipment of spuds it mailed Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis.

The board game company has been sending Johnson potatoes in increasingly larger quantities over the past several weeks. Each has a sticker saying “Hold a town hall” and the name of the person who spent $5 to send it. Cards Against Humanity said it started the campaign to pressure the senator to meet with constituents in a town hall format, and decided to use potatoes as the messenger “because it’s funny.”

So where did things go wrong for Cards Against Humanity? The largest shipment of potatoes was due to arrive Monday, when a spokesperson for the Chicago company was on-site at Johnson’s office in Milwaukee to take photos. But according to a tracking order, the potatoes were picked up on Saturday when no one was around to document the delivery.

“We don't really know where they are,” Cards Against Humanity spokesperson Melissa Harris told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Someone went to great lengths to pick up those potatoes.”

Johnson is donating potatoes mailed to him to a food bank.

“My suggestion was, rather than spending $5 on a 37 cent potato, donate that $5 to a food pantry. A far better use of your money,” Johnson said. Cards Against Humanity said it sent 2,059 spuds total to the senator.

Johnson is one of several Republicans that has shied away from holding town halls in their home states during congressional recess. He is currently holding events across his state “to talk with Wisconsinites about their concerns,” the senator’s office said. These events are sponsored by organizations like Rotary, and Johnson said “at the right time” he’ll resume holding traditional town halls.

In March, around 500 people held an “empty chair town hall” in Madison where they expressed their concerns about federal policy. Johnson was invited to the event but did not attend.

In February, the senator’s office sent a cease-and-desist letter to a constituent, Vietnam veteran Earl Good, to stop him from calling or visiting Johnson. Good called himself “a concerned citizen” who contacted his senator to express his views on President Donald Trump’s Cabinet appointments, Russian hacking and the future of the Affordable Care Act. Johnson’s office said the measure was necessary “to ensure the well being of visitors of the office and staff.”

Cards Against Humanity has encouraged people to contact their elected representatives, staging a letter-writing campaign at its booth at Emerald City Comicon last month.

This story was originally published April 11, 2017 at 11:47 AM with the headline "Where are the 1,857 potatoes Cards Against Humanity mailed to Wisconsin’s senator?."