Postcarding

Postcarding is an activity that appeals to many people because it does not commit them to appearing at a specific time and place and/or to directly interacting with another person. Postcarding generally has less impact than a live conversation, but postcarding is still worth doing because:

  • Postcarding has been shown to increase voter turnout, in some cases by enough to change the outcome of a close election

  • Postcarding can serve as a good starting point for people who may become more politically active in the future

  • Postcarding is unquestionably more effective than doing nothing!

Our team wanted to know just how effective postcarding can be and whether there are some postcarding solutions that we can confidently recommend over others. Here is what we learned:

  • Multiple studies have found that postcards increase desirable voter turnout by a percentage that can be enough to swing a close election.

  • The precise size of this increase depends on a variety of implementation details. For example: Are the postcards in-state or out-of-state? How much handwriting is present? What is the message? What kind of election is it? What are the voter demographics? Was there explicit follow-up?

  • The prevailing wisdom is that postcards are more effective than mass mailers and less effective than phone banks.

There are different postcard providers that individuals can choose among, and it’s a good idea to find the one that’s most convenient for you:

  • Indivisible Santa Cruz has a long history of working with Commit to Democracy.

  • Some members of our team have a strong preference for Blue Wave. The upside of Blue Wave is that it minimizes the required handwriting. The downside is that it imposes more constraints on who the postcards can be directed to and when they can be sent.

For further information:

  • Multiple research studies have found that post carding increases voter turnout by 1 to 3%. (Does postcarding actually work? - IHSN) Many elections are decided by this percentage or less (for example, CA13 in 2024, decided by less than 1% of the vote)

  • In-state postcards are somewhat more effective than out-of-state postcards, but both are effective in increasing voter turnout (Postcard-Postmark-Whitepaper.pdf)

  • Blue Wave Analytics) reported that “a partially pre-printed card with just a small handwritten note at the end works as well or better than a fully handwritten message. Printing a postcard allows a campaign to control exactly what message a voter receives and allows volunteers to complete postcards much faster, greatly increasing the reach of the campaign.” (Blue_Wave_Analytics_Campaign_Manager's_Guide.pdf

  • Combining post carding with follow-up phone calls or digital messaging can significantly increase voter turnout percentages (Do Postcards Work? – Blue Wave Postcards)