I've been compiling the research on effectiveness of postcards and more. Will take me a few days to get it together, but I'm upset about the NY Times piece. And yesterday there was also the point about how the Dems do nothing but send doomsday fundraising emails. Ugh! We need to educate people about (1) the effectiveness of GOTV and (2) the amount of amazing energy, number of people and organizations are doing this work. I'm working on an education piece about all of this as well!
My response yesterday to a commenter on another Substack who was concerned about the NYT Opinion piece. Also, you have to pay considerably to access the study cited.
I clicked on the study link in the article but could only access abstract and not methodology, #surveyed , etc. They also studied 2018 and 2019 races. I believe postcard campaigns have become much more strategic. I do subscribe to NYT but often tire of their doom and gloomness.
This is from one of the postcard groups I support. While obviously not a study, encouraging and IMO believable. “In 2020 volunteers for the Northeast Arizona Native Democrats sent over 18,000 postcards to voters on the Navajo, Hopi and White Mountain Apache Nations. That means volunteers sent postcards to EVERY Permanent Early Voting List (PEVL) voter, explaining to them how to make sure their vote counted. Their work paid off. We had a 300% increase in mail in ballots in 2020 over 2016 and yet only a tiny increase in ballots that needed corrections. We know this project increased the number of votes counted on tribal land and extended Biden’s victory in Arizona.”
Just to be fair though, the postcard campaigns to Native communities will likely have a much higher efficacy than other communities around the country. Its a great result, but not really representative...
Erin, I agree but also add that what NEAZ has achieved, their model, should be a goal! They had great results within their Native communities….but even a much a smaller percentage could swing an election in other non-Native communities. Below is from a commenter on Robert HubbeIl ,whom I appreciate for his blend of realism/optimism/activism.
“ In 2019 in Onslow, NC, 26% of purged voters to whom ROV sent postcards subsequently registered to vote.
* In 2020 in the Georgia primary, 3.3% of the 143,000 purged Black Georgia voters postcarded by ROV registered to vote.
* In 2021, in Petersburg, VA, there were 6100 voters with no phone number so ROV postcarded them, and 43% of them voted, compared with 40% voter turnout by all Petersburg Black voters.”
I'm glad you addressed the NYY article. It left me feeling kinda mopey especially since the link to the study was paywalled. Quite frankly, I sometimes question the wording on the scripts in the letter and postcard writing campaigns. Nonetheless, I'll keep chopping wood and carrying water 😎
I've been compiling the research on effectiveness of postcards and more. Will take me a few days to get it together, but I'm upset about the NY Times piece. And yesterday there was also the point about how the Dems do nothing but send doomsday fundraising emails. Ugh! We need to educate people about (1) the effectiveness of GOTV and (2) the amount of amazing energy, number of people and organizations are doing this work. I'm working on an education piece about all of this as well!
Good! And I think Letter to the Editor in response are called for, too. We should all write one!
My response yesterday to a commenter on another Substack who was concerned about the NYT Opinion piece. Also, you have to pay considerably to access the study cited.
I clicked on the study link in the article but could only access abstract and not methodology, #surveyed , etc. They also studied 2018 and 2019 races. I believe postcard campaigns have become much more strategic. I do subscribe to NYT but often tire of their doom and gloomness.
This is from one of the postcard groups I support. While obviously not a study, encouraging and IMO believable. “In 2020 volunteers for the Northeast Arizona Native Democrats sent over 18,000 postcards to voters on the Navajo, Hopi and White Mountain Apache Nations. That means volunteers sent postcards to EVERY Permanent Early Voting List (PEVL) voter, explaining to them how to make sure their vote counted. Their work paid off. We had a 300% increase in mail in ballots in 2020 over 2016 and yet only a tiny increase in ballots that needed corrections. We know this project increased the number of votes counted on tribal land and extended Biden’s victory in Arizona.”
https://www.mobilize.us/swingleft/event/428361/
This is so great. Can I include it in tomorrow's email?
Just to be fair though, the postcard campaigns to Native communities will likely have a much higher efficacy than other communities around the country. Its a great result, but not really representative...
Erin, I agree but also add that what NEAZ has achieved, their model, should be a goal! They had great results within their Native communities….but even a much a smaller percentage could swing an election in other non-Native communities. Below is from a commenter on Robert HubbeIl ,whom I appreciate for his blend of realism/optimism/activism.
“ In 2019 in Onslow, NC, 26% of purged voters to whom ROV sent postcards subsequently registered to vote.
* In 2020 in the Georgia primary, 3.3% of the 143,000 purged Black Georgia voters postcarded by ROV registered to vote.
* In 2021, in Petersburg, VA, there were 6100 voters with no phone number so ROV postcarded them, and 43% of them voted, compared with 40% voter turnout by all Petersburg Black voters.”
https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/another-chapter-closes/comments?utm_medium=email
Sure.
I'm glad you addressed the NYY article. It left me feeling kinda mopey especially since the link to the study was paywalled. Quite frankly, I sometimes question the wording on the scripts in the letter and postcard writing campaigns. Nonetheless, I'll keep chopping wood and carrying water 😎
I do think it’s important to look for campaigns that do good, data-driven messaging. I try hard to only recommend those kinds here, FWiw.