Since March 5 of 2022 (following up our canvassing in 2021), Hope Springs from Field PAC has been knocking on doors (as weather and primaries permitted) in Arizona, Nevada, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin — all critical states that will determine the Senate majority for the next two years. Nothing is more important this election than maintaining a Democratic Senate and even expanding upon it.
One of the most important aspects of our canvassing in these Senate Swing States has been Registering and Re-Registering Voters (updating their addresses in accordance with federal election law). But this post focuses on post-registration efforts to mobilize those New Voters we registered (and, if we have the bandwidth, those who were otherwise registered in these states).
There’s method to this madness. New Voters rarely make it into traditional campaign’s voter contact efforts and yet, like infrequent voters, they need more, not less, communications and outreach to actually cast a ballot. Like any “new thing,” sometimes it takes extra motivation or encouragement to actually do it, in this case, actually cast a ballot. Those New Voters who we have registered at the door have had prior contact with one of our volunteers, and they know that Democrats are serious about preserving Democracy, protecting their right to vote and interested in maintaining the public infrastructure in their neighborhoods.
Starting in the middle of August, we will be reaching out to New Voters, voters who have never been eligible to vote before, through the use of Post Cards. Post cards had an interesting impact in the 2021 Georgia Senate Runoffs. When I had meetings in the Atlanta area, I’d have people show me an example of a dozen or so postcards they had received encouraging them to vote. The desk manager at the hotel where I would stay had a collage of 18 postcards and she still received at least one more after she had voted. People loved them and would talk about them on Facebook and other social media.
In Southwest Georgia, where I was organizing, only a handful of people we encountered received postcards, and those who did certainly didn’t receive more than a couple. But they heard about them and were interested to hear about them, almost longingly.
There are plenty of Democratic groups who are organizing the writing of post cards to likely voters. That’s not what we are doing. What Hope Springs from Field PAC is focused on are newly registered voters, starting with those whom we (or our partners) have registered in Arizona, Nevada, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin (but expanding beyond that base of if we generate enough interest).
These are intended to be first contact communications, reminding people they are registered to vote and that there’s an important election approaching. The critical point is that most campaigns exclude them from their own voter outreach efforts because of the low percentages in which new voters — and especially young voters — actually turnout to cast ballots. And the fact is that new voters, the ones who have yet to make voting a real habit, are the ones who need the most attention.
Hope Springs from Field PAC has been knocking on doors in a grassroots-led effort to prepare the Electoral Battleground in what has been called the First Round of a traditional Five Round Canvass. We are taking those efforts to the doors of the communities most effected (the intended targets or victims) of these new voter suppression laws.
We are looking for people who will take the time to hand write post cards to these New Voters (you can sign up here) and give them a reason to vote this Fall. Help them understand why it’s important. To help preserve Democracy, so to speak.
If you can volunteer to write post cards, specifically in batches of 25 for 3 rounds (thinking late August, late September, mid-October), please sign up here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1auWAl5a-qaCvbS0uKCm4e_A6r4luO3Nr1dpb9wy752U/
At the door, and through our partner Black Churches, Hope Springs from Field PAC has registered 55,868 voters in little more than a year. While only a fraction of that are New Voters, to whom these post cards are intended. Re-registered voters are generally included in regular campaign communications because they already have a voter history. But we hope to generate the same kind of excitement among these newly registered voters as post cards did in Georgia. Outreach that matters, excites and makes them pay attention to the approaching election.
And what will create that kind of excitement is participation from people who are willing to share their story about becoming a voter, or casting a ballot that made an impact on them, or why they think this election is important, encouraging them to vote.
Ideally, we are hoping that participants (who can sign up here) will be able to send 3 post cards to the list we provide: one (a thank-you-for-registering card) around Labor Day, a first reminder card when Early Voting begins in their state and a second reminder card as Early Voting concludes. In other words, we aren’t just trying to remind them to vote, but to create a virtual relationship with them to reinforce the narrative that we are, basically, fighting to preserve democracy here in America. We are hoping post card writers will share brief stories about their own first voting experience, or their most important voting experience, or why they think it is important to vote — that kind of thing.
So far, the efforts of Hope Springs from Field PAC and its partners in the Black Churches in Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and Milwaukee have registered 15,017 NEW Voters. In order to meet our goal of at least 3 post cards with those new voters, we’ll need to print 50,000 post cards at a cost of $14,550.60. And that is where we need your help.
If you are able to support our efforts to mobilize these difficult, brand new voters to cast their ballots in November, especially in minority communities, expanding the electorate, or just believe in grassroots efforts to increase voter participation and election protection, feel free to donate (that’s always appreciated):
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/voterpostcards
Thank you for your support. This work depends on you!