This diary is about writing postcards for the 2024 elections. A few things I felt called to share, rather than simply assume the whole dKos community is aware of these things. First thing is that in addition to Postcards To Voters, an excellent organization for which I have mailed postcards for various campaigns starting in 2018, there is another organization out there, ActivateAmerica, that hosts all kind of volunteer efforts including postcard writing — which is where I’m at right now. I can’t in good conscious get involved with texting campaigns, which I have done in the past, as I ignore and delete at least 7 of these a week, and expect it to get worse — I hate it on my phone, and don’t want to send it to yours. As for phone banking, my temperament is just not suited for it, though I aspire to try again someday, and whereas I feel a lot better about in person outreach, I don’t have enough time and ability to travel to really feel connected with that. But postcards….I can do that, and research has shown that these campaigns are effective — largely because of the way these organizations use data to locate their desired audiences, and targeted messages, but also I think because of the “human touch” and because it’s not “in your face” the way a text message or phone call is, but can be read at a person’s leisure.
I am not implying that ActivateAmerica’s postcard program is any better — I think they are all great, and from what I’ve seen, they have different datasets and methodologies, and often are targeting different elections with different strategies — so if you are already doing Postcards to Voters or Vote Forward and are feeling engaged, by all means, continue to do so...but via various means this organization came into my view (I believe through CommonPower another amazing organization), and I just gravitated towards it and the campaigns. Plus I see many diaries about Postcards to Voters but not as many related to this one.
So far I have sent postcards to two different campaigns in support of Ruben Gallego’s Senate bid (one focused on prescription drugs, the other on reproductive rights), Kirsten Engel’s campaign for US House (also AZ), a Sherrod Brown campaign and currently one for Jon Tester. This is me doing my best to support a trifecta victory in 2024 — which we need, Democracy needs, the whole world needs. It has helped me to get somewhat out of the vortices of anger and frustration that somehow afflict me during these times, and to feel more like I am doing something to help in these crucial efforts, in the most consequential election cycle of our lifetimes (thinking of Michael Douglas’ recent statement in that regard in this CNN interview).
Tangentially, but also as inspiration for these efforts, I wanted to call attention to this excellent video from Brian Taylor Cohen, talking with Mark Elias about Minnesota’s, why we need a national voting rights act, and why it is so important that we maintain control of the Senate.
Finally, for those more inclined to contribute with dollars, I can’t help but want also post these excellent centralized resource for doing so — I recall spending many hours in 2018 and 2020 doing (much more poorly) what our own Charles Gaba has done so awesomely here. Forward to all your wealthy friends.
