FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 16, 2020
CONTACT: Will Mantell | press@turnoutpac.org
Postcards to Swing States: Volunteers to Send 13 Million Hand-Written Postcards to Swing State Voters This Election Cycle
Partnership with Progressive Turnout Project Will Target 10 Swing States; 3.5 Million Postcards Already Requested in July
CHICAGO — In an effort to boost voter turnout in 2020, progressive activists and Progressive Turnout Project (PTP) have launched a new initiative: Postcards to Swing States. Started in a garage just outside Chicago, the initiative will organize volunteers to write hand-written messages encouraging voters in swing states to go to the polls in November. PTP, which is the largest grassroots-funded field organization in the country, is investing $500,000 in the initiative.
“We wanted to make it easy for people at home to make an impact on this election,” said Ramsey Ellis and Reid McCollum, co-founders of Postcards to Swing States. “We provide the postcards and train volunteers on what messages are most effective in convincing an infrequent voter to turn out. What began as a little project has just ballooned — we didn’t expect to send 3.5 million postcards in just two weeks.”
Postcards to Swing States has already distributed 3.5 million postcards to 25,000 volunteers in the first two weeks of July, with plans to mail 13 million postcards by October to voters across 10 key presidential and Senate battleground states: Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
“This is the most consequential election of our lifetimes, and Democrats need to do everything possible to connect with voters and get out the vote,”said Alex Morgan, Executive Director of Progressive Turnout Project. “Research from the 2018 election shows that personalized, hand-written messages boost turnout, so this year we’re investing big in reaching voters on the door and through their mailbox. That’s how we’ll beat Donald Trump and flip the Senate.”
Volunteers can easily sign up to receive postcards on the Postcards to Swing States website; in addition to the postcards, they will receive instructions on research-based social pressure messages proven to increase turnout.
Based on previous research, the 13 million postcards could increase turnout by 130,000 votes. Postcards to Swing States could increase turnout by 30,000 votes in Michigan and Wisconsin alone, equal to the vote margin in those states in the 2016 presidential election.
These efforts will dovetail with Progressive Turnout Project’s $52.5 million door-to-door canvassing program to increase voter turnout by knocking on 10.1 million doors across 17 presidential and Senate battleground states. PTP also has a $2.9 million volunteer phone-banking program, Turnout2020.
More about Postcards to Swing States:
- Postcards to Swing States empowers thousands of volunteers to send out postcards. Volunteers pick a research-based message and choose one of 10 states to focus on.
- Postcard packages sent to volunteers include printed instructions and voter addresses.
- Volunteers then have until October to hand-write and address the postcards.
- Postcards to Swing States reminds volunteers to send the postcards in October.
- Postcards to Swing States is organized as a project of Indivisible Chicago Alliance.
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Progressive Turnout Project is a grassroots-funded political action committee with a single mission: get Democrats to the polls. PTP designs, tests, and executes specialized voter-turnout programs targeting inconsistent Democratic voters in the most competitive elections across the country. In 2020, the organization will invest $52.5 million to knock on over 10.1 million doors and get out the vote in 17 presidential and Senate battleground states.
