# Would a handwritten postcard make you more likely to vote? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 27, 2024, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-handwritten-postcard-make-you-more-likely-to-vote/1007794 "2024-09-27T12:06:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-handwritten-postcard-make-you-more-likely-to-vote/1007794/41 "2024-09-28T02:04:54Z")
> [@filmore](#): > > I would probably think the same thing about a political postcard that was literally handwritten. I would just assume it was printed to look like handwriting. Lol! Not if you saw the ones I’ve written! Ink smears, awful handwriting, etc - I think I may get voters who feel sorry for that poor woman who scrawled that postcard. There’s no way to mistake these, or any of the people’s I work with, for anything other than handwritten. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-handwritten-postcard-make-you-more-likely-to-vote/1007794/42 "2024-09-28T02:11:08Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Even if you get 2% the people you send cards to out to vote, consider that a success. These are targeted to swing state Democratic voters who don’t always vote. Yes, and all they say is “please remember to vote, and remind your family and friends.” So it’s not like there’s anything objectionable about them. Why are people here finding these objectionable? They’re going to intermittent democratic voters. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-handwritten-postcard-make-you-more-likely-to-vote/1007794/43 "2024-09-28T02:15:39Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > That’s not to say that it’s not going to sway some people, I’m just not one of them. FFS, all that the cards say is “please remember to vote”. If you regularly vote, and you’re not in a swing state, you’ll never even see one. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-handwritten-postcard-make-you-more-likely-to-vote/1007794/44 "2024-09-28T02:17:00Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I would be voting anyway, so a postcard would not help me. You wouldn’t be getting one if you vote regularly. They’re only sent to intermittent voters to remind them to vote. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-handwritten-postcard-make-you-more-likely-to-vote/1007794/45 "2024-09-28T02:43:33Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > You wouldn’t be getting one if you vote regularly. They’re only sent to intermittent voters to remind them to vote. OMG. Intermittent voters are the last people you want to reach out to because they are mostly, and increasingly, Trumpy: [Don’t Rock the Vote](https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/dont-rock-the-vote) > [@](#): > > The rise of Donald Trump has realigned voting blocks – sending college-educated voters who consistently vote into the arms of Democrats while attracting irregular voters to the GOP. Those cards should only go to registered Democrats who demonstrated their commitment to the party by voting in the last primary or two. The above presumes that your state has closed primaries and releases all the needed data to the parties. Otherwise you just want to send to the cards to people in very heavily Democratic precincts. The first rule of campaigning should be: Do No Harm. P.S. My link in this post is a really good thorough one. It explains why what is say in this post is still true even if the precinct is skewed towards younger or non-white voters. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-handwritten-postcard-make-you-more-likely-to-vote/1007794/46 "2024-09-28T02:59:17Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > Not at all. What a weird waste of volunteer time. Fortunately, I believe that not everyone is like you in this respect. I’m one of those volunteers wasting my time in this way (not only time, I had to buy the postage). My postcards are already written and stamped, waiting for mailing day. > [@filmore](#): > > I would probably think the same thing about a political postcard that was literally handwritten. Not if it was one of the ones I wrote. By the way, they wanted us to print, not write in cursive. They didn’t specify not to use all caps, but I thought that wouldn’t look good, so I printed in regular upper and lower case, with the occasional descender that looks more like cursive. So how do I feel now that it’s done (except for the mailing)? I have no idea if even one person will be moved to vote who might have skipped it, or will remind their family and friends to vote (as the message says). But I feel better about myself than if I had done nothing except gnaw my lip and write about how I was dreading election day; and the solitary nature of the activity fits my personality more than group-oriented activities. Maybe this will be the gateway to being more active in different ways in the future (probably not). But if Ohio swings blue by a small margin, you can turn around and thank me and @Shoeless’s wife and the thousands of others who wrote these postcards by hand. And believe me, if that happens I won’t be shy about reminding you. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-handwritten-postcard-make-you-more-likely-to-vote/1007794/47 "2024-09-28T03:00:04Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Intermittent voters are the last people you want to reach out to because they are mostly, and increasingly, Trumpy: My list was registered Democrats. They didn’t say whether they were regular voters or not. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-handwritten-postcard-make-you-more-likely-to-vote/1007794/48 "2024-09-28T03:28:25Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Those cards should only go to registered Democrats They DO go only to registered Democrats. Have you not read the thread? > [@PhillyGuy](#): > > who demonstrated their commitment to the party by voting in the last primary or two. Then they don’t need a reminder to vote. The cards are going to registered Democrats who have voted sporadically to encourage them to vote. Why send cards to people who’ve demonstrated they’re already going to vote? ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-handwritten-postcard-make-you-more-likely-to-vote/1007794/49 "2024-09-28T03:43:37Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > They DO go only to registered Democrats. Have you not read the thread? Yes, but my daughter got one today and she has never registered for a party. I do not think that was a mistake because the one my wife and I (registered Democrats) got last week was from a different series. Also, intermittent voters were mentioned before. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-handwritten-postcard-make-you-more-likely-to-vote/1007794/50 "2024-09-28T03:48:54Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Yes, but my daughter got one today and she has never registered for a party. Then it’s likely that some groups are targeting intermittent voters who vote democratic, rather than only “registered” democrats. Not all states even have registration with parties. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-handwritten-postcard-make-you-more-likely-to-vote/1007794/51 "2024-09-28T03:53:05Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > the one my wife and I (registered Democrats) got last week was from a different series. There are probably also different groups doing this, and they may have different criteria. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-handwritten-postcard-make-you-more-likely-to-vote/1007794/52 "2024-09-28T04:13:04Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > They DO go only to registered Democrats. Have you not read the thread? The very first sentence of the OP reads: > [@Shoeless](#): > > My wife signed up for a non-partisan “get out the vote” campaign. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-handwritten-postcard-make-you-more-likely-to-vote/1007794/53 "2024-09-28T05:10:52Z")
GOTV is non-partisan in that you don’t tell people which party to vote for, and there’s nothing on the card indicating any party whatsoever. You do target democratic voters, as @Happy_Lendervedder explains in excellent post #19. Whoever sent @PhillyGuy’s daughter a card telling her to vote Dem was clearly not non-partisan. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-handwritten-postcard-make-you-more-likely-to-vote/1007794/54 "2024-09-28T07:51:43Z")
I organized a group of people who sent out about 2400 postcards. This was not a waste of volunteer time & effort because the volunteers were seniors – people who can no longer doorknock or litdrop for elections. But they could still write on postcards. The targets were carefully chosen: people already registered to vote, identified as strong or leaning Democrats, who were seniors (age 60+) and who were intermittent voters. And lived in chosen districts, that needed to remain Democratic or that were close enough to be a possible Democratic pickup. The postcards were preprinted with logo & some senior issues (Social Security, Rx prices, and Medicare)m place to write in the name of the Democratic candidates in that district, and space for a hand-written message. And individual stamps, not pre-paid postage. The message was clearly handwritten – in colored ink different from the black printing, addressed to them by first name, and signed by the writer. We know this works, because we did it in the last election, and the results were evident. Like some cases we did this in only one half of a district, and the results showed a higher turnout in that half. Only a percent or two, but that is enough to make the difference in a close election. (And makes a difference all the way down the ballot – if you get them out to vote for a President or Senator, the also vote for Democratic candidates all the way down to School Board, Sheriff, & City Treasurer!) So for us, hand writing postcards is a worthwhile, proven effective tactic. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-handwritten-postcard-make-you-more-likely-to-vote/1007794/55 "2024-09-28T08:19:31Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > One of her reasons is that if she registers then she’ll get called for jury duty, which is why her parents told her to never vote. It’s great to have parents who teach you the importance of basic civic responsibility. 🙄 > [@kayaker](#): > > Her dad taught her and her brothers that wearing a seatbelt was a bad thing, because you could be stuck in a burning car?!?! Oh, I get it now. Her parents are Trump supporters! But they should consider the other side. Given her background, when she or her brothers inevitably end up in a police pursuit, and the driver either loses control or crashes due to a PIT maneouver by pursuing cruisers (“Precision Immobilization Technique”), the non-belted driver often gets ejected and killed. Safety first, Trumpsters! 😃 > [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](#): > > I organized a group of people who sent out about 2400 postcards. > … > … So for us, hand writing postcards is a worthwhile, proven effective tactic. You’re a great example of what it takes to preserve democracy in the current chaos. Keep doing what you’re doing, and let me express a profound thank you from a very concerned citizen who is a non-USAian but a resident of this troubled planet. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-handwritten-postcard-make-you-more-likely-to-vote/1007794/56 "2024-09-28T13:14:46Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > > [@PhillyGuy](#): > > > > Yes, but my daughter got one today and she has never registered for a party. > > Then it’s likely that some groups are targeting intermittent voters who vote democratic, rather than only “registered” democrats. Not all states even have registration with parties. Pennsylvania requires party registration at least 15 days in advance to go into the primary election polling booth, and the party booth has to match the registration. Biden got 59 percent in our precinct in November 2020. Optimistic Democrats might think this means the independents also skew towards the Democratic Party. Maybe they do, maybe not. That independents, who are on the fence whether to vote, skew Democratic – now that’s what is unlikely., ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-handwritten-postcard-make-you-more-likely-to-vote/1007794/57 "2024-09-28T13:19:35Z")
> [@flurb](#): > > > [@needscoffee](#): > > > > They DO go only to registered Democrats. Have you not read the thread? > > The very first sentence of the OP reads: > > > [@Shoeless](#): > > > > My wife signed up for a non-partisan “get out the vote” campaign. Well, I said “non-partisan” because the postcards don’t tell you who to vote for, just encourage you to get out and vote. It’s actually the organization whose website that @Chefguy linked to in post 35. As I’ve said earlier in this thread, I don’t know how they pick who to send postcards to. I assume it’s people who are not regular voters, and may very well be registered Democratic voters. So from that POV I guess it is partisan, even if the postcards don’t say “Vote Democrat!” ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-handwritten-postcard-make-you-more-likely-to-vote/1007794/58 "2024-09-28T13:34:55Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > > [@Joey\_P](#): > > > > That’s not to say that it’s not going to sway some people, I’m just not one of them. > > FFS, all that the cards say is “please remember to vote”. If you regularly vote, and you’re not in a swing state, you’ll never even see one. FFS, was that reply intended for my post? If it is, I’m not sure where the confusion is. The question asked was: > [@Shoeless](#): > > So, let’s say you’re one of those “undecided” voters out there. Would getting a personally handwritten postcard in the mail make you more likely to actually get out and vote? My answer is that no, a handwritten letter would not sway me, undecided or otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-handwritten-postcard-make-you-more-likely-to-vote/1007794/59 "2024-09-28T15:21:46Z")
I would guess that the SDMB isn’t representative of the people who get these postcards. It seems like most people here are politically engaged and will vote no matter what. So even if none of us would be swayed, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the intended recipients won’t be swayed. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2024, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-handwritten-postcard-make-you-more-likely-to-vote/1007794/60 "2024-09-28T16:10:22Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > I’m a little paranoid about our current surveillance culture Can you elaborate, what’s your concern with receiving a piece of mail, vigilantism? Anthrax? I highly doubt any trumpet is writing love notes to the electorate. If I got one for H/W I’d be tickled blue. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-handwritten-postcard-make-you-more-likely-to-vote/1007794.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-handwritten-postcard-make-you-more-likely-to-vote/1007794.md?page=4)