Postcarding

Write "I will not daydream in class" 100 times

George Santos. George Who? That’s a name I would love to quickly and painlessly forget forever and ever. In case you’ve already done so, he’s the corrupt Representative who was recently expelled from Congress. His lying, thievery, and fraud was so obvious even some of his fellow Republicans voted to expel him.

The guy represented New York State’s third congressional district, located in Long Island. (What were they thinking?) Anyway, now that the position is vacant, there will be a special election to replace him. Tom Suozzi is the Democrat running to fill the position, and he has been endorsed by many progressive organizations.

The trouble, as always with special elections, is that many people don’t know they’re happening. Who’s thinking about voting on February 13? Not the kind of festive activity you want to plan for the eve of Valentine’s Day. And the stakes are high for this one. Winning this would provide crucial momentum going into the general election, when the candidates (alas) will have to run all over again.

So what’s the best way to help, if you don’t happen to live in that district? One way is to write postcards.

There are many organizations doing this thing called postcarding—sending postcards to potential voters in districts with winnable races. I recommend an organization called Activate America.

After much comparison shopping, I’ve found that they’re the easiest. They get right to the point—no Zoom meetings, no two-hour training sessions, a minimum of wasted time. I also feel that they’re a very effective organization. They target races that are very possible to win—not long shots. They design a specific script for each campaign.

Here’s how it works. You go to the Activate America website. Choose which race you want to write postcards for—they list three that are the most essential. They will e-mail you a script and a list of addresses—you can specify how many you want to tackle—10, 20, 30, whatever. I started off at 15, which was quite manageable.

To be clear, this costs you some money—you have to buy your own postcards and stamps. But it seems like an effective donation—good bang for the buck.

Here’s the script for the Santos replacement special election:

Dear Voter [you use their name]

Elect Democrat Tom Suozzi to Congress!

Make a plan now to vote early Feb. 3-11 or on Special Election Day Feb. 13

Find your polling location here: voterlookup.elections.ny.gov

Thanks!

[your first name only], volunteer

You divulge none of your personal information. You mail the postcards. You’re done.

This does something that I think is critical: giving useful information to voters. As I’ve said before, voting is hard. Our lives are so filled with errands, duties, obligations—who needs one more? Early voting is still a fairly new concept and it’s complicated—where do I go, what are the hours again? And it’s different times almost every day, often a different polling place from the usual Election Day spot.

But early voting is so crucial—for one thing, when we vote early, we free up local advocates to zoom in on people who haven’t yet voted. Since who has voted is a matter of public record (not who you voted for, just that you voted), progressive activists know who hasn’t turned out yet, so they know which doors to knock on on Election Day.

Here's the question, though—does postcarding work? Don’t people just glance at the postcard, sigh, and toss all our hard work in the trash? Of course. About 98.7 per cent of people getting postcards do just that.

An organization called the Progressive Turnout Project claims that their research shows that postcards increase Democratic turnout by 1.3%. In 2020, postcard programs “added thousands of votes in states critical to President Biden’s victory. In the 2022 midterms, postcards added 22,500 votes in key races across the nation. This impact is roughly equivalent to 45,000 hours of door-to-door canvassing.”

It’s that crucial 1.3 per cent—the few, the very few, who will say to themselves, oh, right, I really should vote on Tuesday, who make the difference. So many elections these days are won by razor-thin margins.

It’s a bit of a pain, I’ll admit. Writing the same script over and over and over brings back third-grade memories of writing “I will not daydream in class” one hundred times. But it’s certainly easier and less intimidating than knocking on doors or even calling voters. And it may be even more effective.

I’m going to send a few postcards to the good folks in NY-3 in the next few weeks. I hope you’ll join me.

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Are you more than a little worried about the election of 2024 and wondering what to do about it? I hope you’ll continue to check out my substack, The Optimistic Activist.

Every Tuesday I plan to post some ideas for doing something. How to get out the vote, spread the word, and support progressive candidates. Ideas for simple but effective activism. As easy, as practical, as do-able as I can make them.

Together, I think, we could really make a difference.