A left-leaning group announced plans Thursday to send 13 million hand-written postcards to swing-state voters around the country in an effort to boost Democratic voter turnout in the 2020 election.
The Progressive Turnout Project said in a press release that it was investing $500,000 in the initiative begun by Ramsey Ellis and Reid McCollum, co-founders of Postcards to Swing States, and have already distributed about 3.5 million hand-written postcards to volunteers for mailing.
Voters in 10 states are being targeted, according to the press release including 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, Progressive Turnout Project’s executive director.
“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,” Morgan said.
The group’s release notes that the project could increase turnout by as many as 130,000 votes in the 10 states it’s targeting, according to Postcards to Swing States’s internal research, which it contended could mean the difference for many close races.
“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,” the release claimed.
News of the initiative follows Progressive Turnout Project’s earlier announcement of a $52.5 million investment in door-to-door canvassing efforts, and comes just days after the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee announced that the two organizations had jointly hired 1,500 field staffers in preparation for campaigning in the fall.
