I’m still testing positive for Covid, so while my husband goes to Maryland to practice with his band, it’s a good time to be writing postcards. A few weeks ago, just before the price of postage went up, I bought $150 worth of stamps, both postcard and forever stamps.
I’ve written for several different groups beginning in 2008. My sister recruited me to write for Obama’s first campaign, Obama for America. The organization had a beautiful picture of the Capitol on the postcard.
I’ve been writing several years for Tony the Democrat’s campaign. My sister passed the addresses to me and last year I signed up to get the addresses myself. They ask you to write a sample postcard before they approve you to be one of their writers. They give you the addresses and tell you pretty much what to write. Not a lot of room for personal interpretation or creativity, but sometimes that makes it easier.
Three years ago, someone in our community organized a postcard writing party for Democratic candidates. This was before Covid, so it was okay to have 30+ people in her house. She provided coffee, tea, and deserts. I’m not sure of what group we were writing for.
I provided the postcards we used that day. I ordered 1300 postcards from a printing company. I got the designs from Tony’s website. I thought the printer offered a great price and it would be a good contribution.
I think I had the option of having just the front part, the one with the picture, be glossy and the back that I would write on be uncoated, but I thought glossy sounded nice, so I opted for glossy for both sides. That was a big mistake and I’m still paying for it. It is a lot harder to write on a glossy surface with a ballpoint pen. You have to bear down harder. The glossy surface often makes the pen skip and you have to go back to retrace what you wrote. Sometimes we’d try using a felt tip pen but the trouble with that is felt tip ink tends to smear.
When the group we were writing with complained about the glossy cards, I admitted it was my fault and apologized, but we still used the cards and got several hundred out that day.
I’ve used those cards every year since. It’s a little harder to write, but I’m determined to use them up. But I won’t inflict them on anyone else writing postcards.
This year when I mentioned the problem of writing on the glossy cards, my sister offered a solution and a pen. She gave me a Sarasa Gel Pen. I tried it out on one of my postcards and it was better than what I’d been using. It can still smear if you brush your fingers over it but it dries quickly and doesn’t smear after that.
In July, AWildLibAppeared wrote a diary about Christy Smith and even though she was a candidate from 3000 miles away, I figured we needed all the help we could get to keep the House so I volunteered to write postcards for her. The campaign sent me the postcards and gave me four choices of what to write so I selected this script:
Hi (voter first name)
We need leadership in Congress who will fight to protect Roe v Wade and a woman’s right to choose!
By Nov 8, vote for Christy Smith, a proven advocate for community and families.
Jamie, Volunteer
I read up about the race and saw that in 2020, she had been defeated by Mike Garcia (R) by only 333 votes. Her chances look promising. Furthermore, I looked into Mike Garcia and saw he is against all abortion with the exception of when the mother’s life is in jeopardy. Here’s a clip of Garcia on abortion:
Garcia is co-sponsoring the “Life at conception” bill which does not back exceptions for rape, incest, and the health and life of the mother, and baby.
Another group I am writing for is Hope Springs from Field PAC. Snowbored has been a member of Daily Kos since 2005. Since March 5, Hope Springs volunteers have been knocking on doors in Arizona, Nevada, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin — all critical states that will determine the Senate majority. I’ve been reading his diaries each day and cheering them on, sending some donations. After talking to over 2 million people and registering many new Democrats, their next step was to sign people up to send postcards to encourage these newly registered people to vote. What is unique about this campaign is that we are adopting these voters, not just writing to them once, but three times, in August, September, and October. I’m convinced Hope Springs is going to help us win seats in the Senate.
The people who are assigned to me live in North Carolina. This is what I wrote:
Dear ________
Thank you for registering to vote. North Carolina is a swing state and Cheri Beasley can help keep the Senate in Democratic hands. Your vote can make a difference!
Please vote early or on election day, Nov. 8. Thank you for being a voter!
Jamie G.
Not very wordy, but I only had half of the back of the postcard to write on. Anyway, I’ll be writing to the same people in a few weeks.
The other group I’m writing for this year is postcards4va. This group is focused on writing postcards for candidates in Virginia, where I live. I’ve written for them before and I like to think I helped to elect Jennifer Wexton and Abigail Spanberger in 2018. This week I’m writing for Abigail Spanberger. Because of redistricting, Abigail’s seat is redder this year, though the Cook Political Report still rates her district, the 7th, as lean Democratic.
Dear _________
I’m a volunteer writing to encourage you to vote for Abigail Spanberger as your congressional representative. I vote in every election because I have seen how our elected officials affect the lives of our families and communities. Please vote early or on election day, Nov. 8. If you have any questions about where to vote go to iwillvote.com. Thank you for being a voter!
Jamie G
After I finish these, I will check to see if they still need people to write for Elaine Luria, who is probably the most endangered Democrat in the House.
Another group I’m thinking about writing for again is Vote Forward. Instead of writing postcards, you write letters. They ask you to express why you are voting. If you like to write, there’s a lot of room (I always use the back of the page as well as the front). You get to choose which campaign you want to write for and if you’d like to help out with some House races, there are a lot to choose from.
Thanks to WolverineForTJatAW who recommended Activate American which gives you the option to write for a lot of swing area House races.
