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Postcarding

THANK YOU WRITERS!

Our postcard campaigns are complete for the year. Thank you all for sending more than 4 million postcards to Black voters this year! Now we are on to phonebanking and canvassing in the final days before November 5.

Learn how to postcard with us

Order supplies and addresses


Get Ready to Write

1. Learn the basics of postcarding with us

Even if you have sent postcards with other organizations, we ask writers new to volunteering with us to view our short video and read our Postcarding Guidelines in order to understand our philosophy and methods.

Join Us

2. Contact your Regional Organizer

Our postcard campaigns are supported by Regional Organizers who are volunteers like you.  They can assist you by providing information on obtaining addresses, supplies, best practices, and, where possible, connecting with other volunteers in your area.

New writers should contact their Regional Organizer in order to coordinate distribution of addresses and provide the support you need in postcarding with Center for Common Ground. Find your Regional Organizer below.

Find your Regional Organizer


Ordering Supplies and Addresses

You will need to obtain postcards, stamps, and labels, as well as colored pens/pencils and Wite Out strips or fluid for the occasional mistake. You will receive the addresses, scripts and label templates via email. In some areas, your Regional Organizer may be able to connect you with people or groups near you who have supplies or packets they can share.

These racially inclusive, uplifting, colorful and eye-catching postcards with voting rights themes, designed by young immigrant artists of color, are part of our strategy, and provided at a discount through our online postcard store. Learn more about our postcard artist.

POSTCARDS:  RECLAIM OUR VOTE postcards are required.

Important note: Reclaim Our Vote cards should not be used for any other organization's campaign.

Ordering 100 postcards or fewer? One of our own board members, Kati Hornung, has a print shop called Sir Speedy Richmond where you can order postcards from HERE.

If your order is very high volume, we recommend you Order ROV postcards from VistaPrint.

STAMPS:   

Click here to order "Forever" postcard stamps. Please buy sailboats, coral reefs, barn, or other neutral designs. Flags are unfortunately associated with voter suppression and intimidation for many.

Remember: do not fall for "discount" stamps scams on the internet. Get them from USPS.com or your local post office and be safe.

LABELS:

Order Avery (type) labels - either the most economical 30 per page (label size 1" x 2.65” -  Avery #5160 for Laserjet or Avery #8160 for Inkjet) or else 20 per page (size 1" x 4" - Avery #5161 or #8161)

Crowd-sourced suggestions for ordering 30 per page labels:

ADDRESSES:

We use an automated system for distributing voter addresses which enables postcard writers to request addresses any time during a campaign. Every set of addresses has a specific script, tailored to the city or county where the voter lives. When a writer receives addresses, they also receive the script, instructions, templates for labels, and a sample postcard document. (This sample postcard shows how we use labels for information such as the Elections Office phone number and url.)

Contact your regional organizer for more information.

Our Postcarding Work

We started postcarding in 2019.  In 2020 we distributed over 9 million postcards, written and mailed by volunteers, and 77,000 viewed our training video! In 2021 we sent more than a million postcards, and 3.45 million for the midterms in 2022!

Contact your Regional Organizer or Distributor for info, data, or (possibly) local supplies or even all-in-one postcard packets, if there happen to be volunteer packet-makers in your area.

We are also making calls. Please join one of our Guided Phonebanks. We like to have fun and help each other out, so jump on in!    

Is Postcarding Effective? YES!

Hard data from the last several years of our postcarding work have yielded the encouraging fact that... yes! Postcarding increases voter engagement, and reaches voters who do not have a phone number on file, or may not have mobile phones for texting outreach. See our report.

Florida - 2022

2.25%
Black Voter Turnout INCREASE
In 2022 we analyzed data from 26,554 Black voters in 3 Florida counties for the August 2022 primary election. Voters were randomly assigned to receive a postcard or not receive a postcard. There was an average 2.55% lift in turnout for those who received a postcard.

Petersburg, Virginia - 2021

43%
Black Voter Turnout
Received Postcard Only

Out of 6,534 Black voters contacted, 2,736 or 43% voted.
NOTE: These voters had no phone number on file.

Georgia, 2020

We mailed postcards to 143,000 purged voters in the 2020
Georgia primaries, 3.3% of them registered to vote.

Onslow, North Carolina 2019

3%
Black voters re-registered
Before Contact
43%
Black Voter Turnout
Received Postcard

+23% increase of Black voters re-registering to vote

Concluded Postcarding Campaigns

2024

General Election: More than 3 million postcards for the General Election to Black voters in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia.

Primary Election and Pledge to Vote: More than 1 million postcards to Black voters for the Georgia and Virginia Congressional Primary Elections and North Carolina Pledge to Vote.

2023

Virginia General Election
We reached **99%** of the 287K voters we signed up to contact.

Virginia Primary Election
Thanks to your hard work we reached about 95% of our goal of 58,000 voters.

Wisconsin Special Election
You wrote to 150K voters in WI, helping to turn the tide for the balance of judicial power. Congratulations!

2022

Thank you for sending 3.45 Million postcards in 2022!

GA Runoff Dec 5 - 815,000 postcards

General Midterm Elections
Thank you for your hard work! You wrote over 1.2 million postcards to infrequent Black voters in VA, NC, GA, TX, FL, AZ, SC, and AL for the General Election November 8.

Florida Primaries
We concluded our campaign on August 8. Thanks for your hard work! You wrote over half a million postcards to infrequent Black voters.

Alabama, North Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia Primaries
We sent postcards to almost 480,000 Black voters in Alabama, North Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia!

Texas: Primary Elections
We sent postcards to almost 350,000 Black voters in Texas in January-February 2022.

2021

In 2021 we completed these campaigns, mailing more than 1,000,000 postcards:

Virginia: Protect Voting Rights
Throughout September and October, postcard writers sent 332,342 postcards to Virginia voters to Get Out The Vote for the 2021 election.

Arizona: HR1/SR1 For the People Act
Our nonpartisan postcarding in partnership with One Arizona wrote 95,000 postcards to less-targeted voters of color to urge them to raise their voices to protect their vote, and contact Senator Sinema by phone or through our online portal where they can easily email, call or tweet to her.

Virginia Voter Registration
We mailed 440,000 postcards for Virginia'a statewide elections for Governor, Lt Governor, Attorney General, and House of Delegates (primary 6/8, general 11/2).

Energy Equity, Climate Justice, Citizen Engagement with WeThePlugTho (Georgia)
Two rounds of postcards with Georgia partners We The Plug Tho. We sent 145,000 postcards to utility customers  to help them organize to have a say in their utility rates and type of energy use.