Getting Out the Vote With Postcards
A 2020 study by Sister District Project shows the increased voting turnout among voters who received a handwritten postcard from a volunteer encouraging them to vote.
Grassroots methods of turning out voters have a place among today’s tech-driven campaigns.
Postcard writing saw a resurgence in 2008, with a spike starting in 2020. Vote Forward, a nonprofit mobilizing voters in historically marginalized communities, has conducted 20 studies on the effects of volunteer-penned postcards. They found that handwritten snail mail motivates registrations, boosts turnout, and improves a candidate’s or issue’s performance in an election.
This is great news for introverts like me. I bombed at phone banking. I’m tiptoeing into canvassing this year, thanks to a kind neighbor who’s bringing me along. (“I can do the talking. You can keep our list.” Bless her.)
Postcard writing, though? I got this.
If this is up your alley as well, here’s how to get started:
Reach out to one (or more) of the organizations below. They’ll give you a script and a list of voter addresses, in the quantity of your choosing. Some of them provide postcards, too. If not…
Order yourself some Get Out The Vote postcards. They’re $1 each, include a postcard stamp, and benefit our Voter Postcard Stamp Fund (more on that in a bit).
Grab a pen. Turn on some good tunes or a fun movie. Maybe invite a friend over. Have fun.
That last part - have fun - is a very real part of the process. The aforementioned studies also revealed positive effects on the volunteers.
You can add flair to your postcards. You can leave 'em plain. All of it works, and all of it counts...as long as it's legible.
Most voter postcard projects are planning for October mailing dates, but you can start requesting scripts and addresses now. I have a steadily growing pile waiting to hit the box on October 1st.
A few groups organizing postcard writing for volunteers:
I also recommend reaching out to local and state campaign offices to inquire about postcarding needs. Women for Stein is making it very easy for me to write to other women in my home state.
These grassroots efforts are typically grassroots funded, and in most cases, their budgets don’t cover postage for your postcards. Volunteers are usually asked to buy their own stamps. We’d like to help with that.
Sugar & Kiki’s Voter Postcard Stamp Fund is now accepting requests for postcard stamps. Here’s how it works:
Request 5 or 10 postcard stamps for your initial mailing.
Send us a photo of your initial mailing (creative pics are especially welcome!)
After that, you may request a higher quantity of postcard stamps to keep on writing.
We tragically do not have unlimited funds, so we may not be able to fulfill every request. If you want to help us get more stamps to volunteers, you can fill the coffers of the Voter Postcard Stamp Fund two ways: purchasing Get Out The Vote postcards or contributing directly to the fund.
Please note that contributions to this fund are not tax-deductible. We will share results in early November - stay tuned!