A message from commentor MazeDancer:
Hoping you could feature the just-launched website PostCardPatriots.com in a post.
It was inspired by the Balloon Juice Top 40 Candidates – plus John Cole’s favorite Kendra Nesser, who responded most enthusiastically – as a way we could all do something meaningful to flip the House.
Even those of us who are too busy – or physically unable – to canvas.
We can Armchair Activist and boost turnout. We can write personal PostCards to Dems encouraging them to vote Nov 6th.
The site has some free postcards to download and print. Some examples of things to write. All people have to do is use the email form and tell me how many addresses they’d like for which House Candidates. I’ll send them the addresses and they can start writing.
I contacted all 40 campaigns. Am still hearing back from them. But have a wide enough group of great candidates that we can go.
And if people can get voter addresses from any of the next 46 BJ candidates, will happily add those campaigns, too.
We can flip the House.
We can save the Constitution.
We can have affordable HealthCare.
We can stop Trump.
All we have to do is Vote
Maybe BJ PostCard Warriors can bring in the winning votes!
Bnad
There has been a well known Facebook group, Postcards to Voters, writing postcards for about a year now.
Lapassionara
@Bnad: who is Bnad? Is she/he kin to Baud?
rikyrah
this is cool
rikyrah
will spread the word about this site.
Thanks
Eric S.
A lovely start to the day. My network account at work has expired. The Helpless Desk is living up to their name.
meander
I just started writing for Postcards To Voters a week ago. After getting approved to write (sign up, get an sample message to put on a postcard, and send back a photo), I have been using their automated message bot to get new addresses every few days. The bot gives you a choice of candidates and how many addresses, then sends the addresses and information about the candidate, including 1) the required info (typically 3 sentences) and 2) a bunch of other talking points you can weave into the message. Thus, you can craft the final message and be artistic if you want (check out the #PostcardToVoters hashtag on Twitter to see some beautiful creations).
So far I have written for Aftab Pureval (House of Rep candidate), the Democratic Dream Team of Beto O’Rourke and Adrienne Bell (House candidate in East Texas), and Katie Porter (CA 45 in Orange County running against Mimi Waters).
From an Etsy shop recommended by Postcards To Voters, I got pre-printed cards with cute pictures of cats and/or kittens and positive “VOTE!” messages on one side, with the other side blank for the message and address.
It can be a little stressful because I’m writing with thin Sharpies (do not make a mistake!). But also meditative because you need 100% focus on the writing. I have been writing in 15-30 minute batches after lunch and in the evening. It’s great for introverts and the phone-averse. A lot better for me than calling strangers on the phone or walking door to door in another city. So far, 15 in the mail, 15 going out today, and a big stack postcards at the ready.
TaMara (HFG)
Now, this sounds perfect for me! I really suck at canvassing, phone calls – I’m seriously bad at it. But writing, I can do. Someone slipped a little photo postcard under my doormat that said, “vote for our children. their dreams depend on it.” I actually kept it.
Eric NNY
@meander:
Meander, great idea! Here is Tedra Cobb’s info for the next 46
[email protected]
(315) 854-8048
PO Box 713, Canton NY 13617
ruemara
Methods for introverts with no time are greatly appreciated.
MazeDancer
@rikyrah:
Thanks, Rikyah.
Thanks, Anne Laurie.
If you are on Twitter, you can really help by following and retweeting @PostCardPatriot. I will be tweeting heavily for the next 3 weeks.
Wanted to concentrate on House Races and especially BJ Candidates. And also empower people who want to start their own campaign for local candidates.
Have addresses for 11 great candidates ready for you.
(And, will, apologies in advance, nag a bit every day.)
Neldob
@meander: I really like it too. Also all their info on candidates they support.
Hungry Joe
Our local Indivisible group has hosted a couple of these parties. You just fill in the name & address and bat out a quick message — just enough to make it clear that it’s a real person writing. The cards are targeted at people who have already identified as supporting the candidate, so I usually write something like “Thanks SO MUCH for supporting Katie Hill. [or Mike Levin — the two I’ve done.] We’re going to win this!” Then I sign my name. The (my) only problem is keeping it legible after about 40 or 50 post cards.
Marcopolo
@Lapassionara: Hey L, hope you are having a lovely vacation.
Just dropping in to say good morning to all the BJers.
I started writing GOtV postcards through Postcards to Voters & my local Indivisible group sometime around April/May 2017. That being said, the more folks sponsoring GOtV postcard writing the better. Sign up with whomever you like and letter rip.
Nowadays, we StL Indivisiblers (plus other affiliated folks across the state) are writing enough postcards that we are running our own campaigns: we just wrapped up writing 140K to be mailed in 2 weeks to low midterm turnout D voters, are finishing off the last of about 50K to younger/first time voters, are ramping up a 50K batch targeted at getting folks out to vote for the minimum wage ballot initiative, and then if we have any time left we will probably write a few for Cort VanOstran, D US House candidate in MO-2.
It is a great way for folks who do not want to make phone calls or go knock on doors get into the work of doing voter contact which is one of the three most important jobs any campaign must do. Thanks to everyone out there who is joining in!
Gotta run. Everyone have a great day.
ceece
i’ve been writing postcards for Andrew Janz and other Dem candidates in CA since July, their campaign is pretty specific about what they want on the cards, and they ask you to mail the completed cards to the campaign so they can control when they are sent out.
postcards to voters .org is also very easy.
I think the ACLU is also doing a postcarding campaign.
Elizabelle
I’m so glad to see this. I canvass (door to door) a lot, but what a nice thing to do as well. Effective, and can be done early morning or late at night or whenever.
Plus, do you answer a phone call when it’s from some state or number you don’t recognize? But a post card, that’s been personally done …
Elizabelle
@Lapassionara: Dyslexic relative?
SuzieC
I’ve written 250 postcards so far, mostly for Danny O’Connor. Our Indivisible group is also writing postcards to locked apartment buildings where we can’t get in to canvass. We believe the postcards are really helping. One of our leaders has written 1500 postcards.
zhena gogolia
@ruemara:
I did postcards for the ACLU (encouraging voting in general), and it was perfect for me. They sent me the blank cards, I wrote my own message (they give some guidelines), and sent it back — they do the addressing and sending of the cards. But it had to be nonpartisan and not related to any specific candidate. It was a great thing for me to fit in around my work duties, and it only took me two days to do 75 postcards. I tried to sign up for the Postcards to Voters, but you had to have a smartphone, which I don’t.
zhena gogolia
@zhena gogolia:
Of course, even though it’s nonpartisan, writing something like “Vote to preserve the rights of all Americans” has a liberal bias.
rikyrah
Damaging new details emerge on Trump’s response to Stormy Daniels
10/02/18 09:20 AM
By Steve Benen
Donald Trump has said quite a bit about his alleged extra-marital affair with Stormy Daniels, but very few of the president’s claims have stood up to scrutiny. A new Wall Street Journal report puts Trump in an even worse position, explaining that Trump was “personally” involved in an effort to silence the porn star.
zhena gogolia
@zhena gogolia:
p.s. From Sept to May I work days, nights, and weekends, so phone-banking and canvassing are not in the cards for me.
H.E.Wolf
Thank you very much for front-paging this!
Postcard Patriots currently has 11 candidates listed on their website. 10 of them are on our first “40 for Victory” list.
I’ll get in touch with the WA State Dems and ask if they have a postcard campaign, and if so, how to participate.
May we please have a follow-up thread later this week, for posting further information as it becomes available?
rekoob
@Elizabelle: You mentioned that you’d be up for writing cards for Abigail Spanberger in one of Scott’s Addition’s biergartens. Maybe Strangeways, since it’s in the district. In any event, count me in!
MazeDancer
@H.E.Wolf:
They’re all BJ Top 40. Threw in John Cole’s favorite candidate Kendra Nesser, too.
And hope you can get some Washington names.
Some campaigns wanted very tight message control and just flat turned me down.
My very humble opinion, after decades in ad biz, is that Dem-to-Dem personal PostCards are not about sending out one more “branded” piece of sanitized messaging. The campaign has that covered. And if the recycle bin at the Post Office, where everyone in my tiny village gets mail, is any indication – No one reads them.
The point of hand writing a postcard is going heart-to-heart. Begging if necessary. Turnout is all. If it’s hand-written, it will at least get a glance. First Amendment at its finest.
Everyone can do at least 10 in the next 3 weeks. $3.50 spent. Maybe you motivate the winning vote.
RedDirtGirl
So cool! Thanks. And my sister was just asking what she could do…
MazeDancer
@rekoob:
Abigail Spanberger was our first “Candidate” tweet.
She has a good website. And gotta love that ex-CIA Operative, Girl Scout Leader background.
Elizabelle
@MazeDancer: I live in Abigail’s district. Going out canvassing later today.
Yea you! Great work, MazeDancer. I will circulate your website.
We can write postcards, instead of knitting, as with Mme Defarge. More active than passive.
Elizabelle
@rekoob: Ask Anne Laurie or Adam to put you in touch with me, and let’s make it happen!
Cards and brew. It’s a plan. Will have to be next week; this one’s already busy (and out of town a little, too).
Very excited to meet you, and any other Central VA jackals, and sip and write and win!
Tata
I’ve been writing with Postcards To Voters, too. The feeling you get when a candidate you wrote for wins is tremendous.
rekoob
@Elizabelle: Asked Anne Laurie to put us in touch with each other. Next week would be fine, the following week I’m on the road. I’d prefer a dog-friendly location (biergarten). Maybe we can coax some other jackals out of the woodwork!
Uncle Cosmo
Hold on a minute. THIS IS IMPORTANT!
The USPS website says postage for a single postcard costs $0.36 However, something called Marketing Mail (200 pcs or 50 lb minimum) costs $0,186 per piece. Which is only 51.7% of the single postcard rate.
Do postcards quality as Marketing Mail? If so the same $72 that would cost us to mail 200 postcards individually would allow the mailing of 387 postcards using Marketing Mail.
Best “bang for the buck” would be to either (a) Sign up in groups for Marketing Mail & put all our postcards together to get the lower rate, or (b) Target a campaign to help that has signed up for Marketing Mail & get them our completed cards for mailing. (With a donation to cover cost of postage, naturally.)
Is that perhaps what the Janz campaign is doing? If it is, shouldn’t all these campaigns be doing it??
IMHO someone needs to look into this.
Uncle Cosmo
@Uncle Cosmo: Aaaah, fuck it. Apparently anything “typewritten or handwritten” has to go First Class at double the cost. Those motherfucking homeflippers that are constantly offering to buy one of my properties (even getting the address wrong sometimes) can mail their fake-handwritten bullshit for the lower cost, but if you’re trying to save the friggin’ Republic. Fucking Useless Pustule Service!
(Then again, if you download one of those preprinted postcard forms & knock out 200+ of them…)
Uncle Cosmo
@MazeDancer: Hey wiat a minute – I thought “Cole’s favorite candidate” was Kendra Fershee (not “Nesser”) running for Congress in WV-01. Or have I missed something?
MazeDancer
@Uncle Cosmo:
When you’re right, you’re right. At least I got the site link correct.
With so many links, emails, and tracking down lists, and sorting through voter files, of course I would make mistakes. And, of course, I would screw up John Cole’s favorite.
Fixed.
Apologies, Mr. Cole.
MazeDancer
@Uncle Cosmo:
I looked into Marketing Mail. It seems that all the PostCards have to be identical. The point of personal hand-written PostCards is, well, the personal part.
But if you can find a way to make it work, Xochitl Torres Small – an exciting, dynamic candidate running in NM – 2 sent me 600 names. About 400 more than I wanted, but, hey, you never know when someone will step up.
InternetDragons
I’ve been volunteering with Postcards to Voters for about a year now – am really happy with their communication, their candidate lists, and their postcard campaign notification app, so I’m going to stick with them. Always glad to see postcard volunteer groups going, though.
I just thought I’d let folks know that regardless of which volunteer group interests you, Amazon has a great supply of postcards (many of the card designs are by Postcards to Voters volunteers), washi tapes, etc. for your card-decorating pleasure. Some of the postcard packs directly benefit Postcards to Voters, so whether you choose to volunteer with them or with a different group, supporting their efforts via a postcard purchase is a real help for some good people.
I’ve found this to be a perfect volunteer focus for when I just don’t have the mental/physical energy for more direct action. And it’s honestly relaxing to sit down with colored pens, invite a few friends over (or not!), and put together a stack of cards to send out.