Severson campaign still hasn't delivered "Military Votes 1st" petition to MN SOS, House Elections

Bluestem has been following endorsed Republican Dan Severson's "Military Votes First" petition campaign.

Our interest is in part because we believe some of the claims Severson makes about Minnesota's military voters are inaccurate--and because we want to see to he'll actually deliver the petitions to current Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and Representative Steve Simon, Chair of the Minnesota House of Representatives Elections Committee.

According to copy on Severson' campaign website:

We believe that our active duty military vote should be counted first and in its entirety. If you agree, please sign the petition below. This petition will be delivered on 9/11 to Mark Ritchie, current Minnesota Secretary of State and Rep. Steve Simon, Chair of the Minnesota House of Representatives Elections Committee.

Severson did not deliver the petition--which is online at his campaign website and which Severson made much of at the Minnesota State Fair--on Patriots' Day, September 11.

Bluestem noted in So not 9/11: Severson SOS campaign delays delivery date for "Military Votes First" petition that the campaign had decided to pick another date for delivery:

Since Thursday was September 11, we contacted the Office of the Secretary of State (OSS) and Representative Simon's office to see if the petition had been delivered, as those signing it had been promised.

OSS Communications Director Nathan Bowie emailed us to say, "No, we did not receive the petition." The legislative assistant to whom we spoke at Representative Simon's office said that no petition had been delivered on Thursday; she was at the office all day she noted.

We also contacted the House Elections committee administrator Jim Gelbmann to see if the committee had received it. The committee had not.

Curious, we emailed the Severson campaign to learn the fate of the petition. The campaign emailed back:

Hi Sally Jo, no we decided to do it next week right before they mail the ballot.

Did the petition get delivered last week, since voters could request ballots beginning Friday?

Apparently not. Bluestem contacted the Office of the Secretary of Statee's communications director; Nathan Bowie emailed back that "No, we haven’t received it."

On the House side, neither Representative Simon's office nor the Elections Committee legislative committee assistant received the petition on Representative Simon's behalf. It was simply not delivered.

This serial nonperformance raises a couple of issues. First, should we trust Severson to "count military votes first" if he simply can't deliver a petition when promised?

Second, should he continue to campaign on claims about the military vote at all? We look into the strength of his argument in Dan Severson's claims about counting military ballots don't seem to be supported by facts.

Photo: Severson and this missing petition at the State Fair, via Facebook. The plan for delivering the petition to the MNSOS head or Sorensen has need produced these folks

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