Introduction: What is postcarding, how do I do it, and what does it accomplish?
One form of activism that people can do easily and safely from home is contacting voters—in their own community, in neighboring communities, in other states. I generically call this “voter outreach”, and it includes phone banking, text banking, and postcard- and letter-writing.
What you say to voters varies:
- Sometimes you're contacting people who are new citizens or have recently turned 18, who are eligible to vote but haven't registered yet, to encourage them to register to vote.
- Sometimes you're contacting no-party-preference voters who (for one or more reasons) are gauged likely to vote Democratic, and encouraging them to re-register with the Democratic Party so they can vote in the primary.
- Sometimes you're contacting registered voters before the deadline to request a mail-in ballot, encouraging them to do that, or to sign up to receive mail ballots for all future elections.
- Sometimes you're contacting registered voters either encouraging them simply to vote at all, or to vote for a specific candidate or candidates. These campaigns are complementary; if you can motivate somebody to vote for one candidate, there's a chance they may fill out the rest of their ballot, too, with choices of a similar political direction.
The tactics also vary, as I mentioned, and I hold that they are complementary: people who text bank reach people who read texts; people who phone bank reach people who answer calls; people who canvass reach people who answer their door; people who write letters or postcards reach people who read their mail. By these powers combined, we reach as many people as possible.
So the most effective method for you is the one you enjoy doing, and are therefore willing to regularly commit time and labor to.
I write postcards. I can write a few per day, and mail them whenever I go out. Sometimes I do letters, depending on what campaigns are going on at any given time, but postcards are easier (no envelopes), cheaper (lower postage rate), and more likely to be read (no envelopes).
How to get started
To take up postcarding, you will need:
- At least one pen.
- Blank postcards with a suitable design (more on that below), an address area, and a message area.
- Postage stamps. You want First-Class Mail postcard stamps. First-Class Mail letter stamps will also work, but you'll be overpaying for postage. You can order postcard stamps online from the USPS or get them at a Post Office; supermarkets and Costco will have letter stamps but not postcard stamps.
- Lists of prospective voters to write to, from a trustworthy progressive voter-outreach organization.
These are the bare essentials you need to get your feet wet. I also have information and resources that can make postcarding easier once you decide that it's the right thing for you.
On suitability of postcard images for campaigns
Not all postcards will work with all campaigns. Check the instructions that came with a given list to confirm which postcards are appropriate for it.
In particular, certain organizations (non-profits) are required to eschew partisan messaging. For these orgs' campaigns, you'll want to use a postcard with a generic “vote” message or something not political at all. The script will likewise be something non-partisan, like “vote” or “sign up for your state's Permanent Early Voter List”, or at most some sort of issue contrast like “so-and-so wants to ban abortion whereas so-and-so will protect your reproductive freedom”.
Parties, candidate campaigns, and PACs like Field Team 6 are the most likely to specifically encourage voting for Democrats (either specific ones or up and down the ballot). Partisan postcard images should be reserved for these postcarding campaigns.
Where to buy postcards
Vote Cards (my own postcard store)
I sell postcards on Redbubble. They frequently have coupon codes or sitewide sales, so make sure you check the top of the page for whatever discount they've made available at the moment.
So far, all the postcard images I've designed have been non-partisan, though that may change if I think of a partisan message I want on the front of a postcard.
Chris Glass
In 2024, Chris Glass designed some excellent postcards for writing to conservatives urging them to vote for Harris for President and Walz for Vice President.
Glass's designs demonstrate a principle articulated by Dale Carnegie back in the 1920s that you should lead with a value your audience already holds; these postcards open with conservative (but not fascist) frames and then present the conservative case for Harris-Walz.
If you want to write postcards to conservative family or friends, Glass's postcards would be excellent for this. His site has a PayPal button if you'd like to order a set, or you can download a PDF to get them printed yourself. (I have instructions on getting postcards printed professionally or printing postcards at home.)
Field Team 6
Field Team 6, a partisan voter registration PAC, sells postcards with excellent voter-registration postcard designs. Because Field Team 6 is a PAC, they're allowed to be partisan, and their postcards are primarily designed to be used with their own campaigns to get people to register as Democrats. (Note the donkey in the middle sample image below.)
