Volunteers write postcards to swing state voters at Lake Monster Brewing in St. Paul on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. Photo by Madison McVan/Minnesota Reformer.
On Fridays on a shady St. Paul brewery patio, dozens of volunteers — most of them retirees — gather to sip beer or coffee and spend a few hours writing notes to potential voters in the faraway districts that will determine the country’s future.
The effort is one of many across the country hoping to increase turnout and persuade enough swing voters to turn the election in favor of Democrats.
On Friday afternoon, the group was closing in on 4,000 postcards completed, according to a paper thermometer colored in red marker to mark their progress; the goal is to send off 5,000 before Election Day. Some volunteers write additional cards and letters for other groups, or on their own time.
The cards will go to voters in critical districts for Democrats in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin and more.
Many of the postcard writers have long been involved in political volunteering: door knocking, phone banking, organizing and supporting other volunteers.
For people on the introverted side, the mail campaign offers a less nerve-wracking ask than ringing a stranger’s doorbell or making a cold call.
“This is easy, right? We could feel like we’re doing something, but we don’t have to do phone calls,” said Carolyn Ham, a co-facilitator of Third Act Minnesota. “It’s a low bar.”
Beer, coffee, snacks and conversation with like-minded people help attract volunteers, too.
The volunteers at Lake Monster Brewing are affiliated with Third Act, a national progressive organization focused on combating climate change. The local volunteer groups, like the one in Minnesota, consist mostly of people over the age of 60.
A volunteer writes a postcard to swing state voters at Lake Monster Brewing in St. Paul on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. Photo by Madison McVan/Minnesota Reformer.
The names and addresses of voters in key districts come from Activate America, which also distributes scripts for volunteers to follow. Volunteers purchase the postcards and stamps.
Even a minuscule shift in voter turnout from the postcards, which provide voters information on registration and how to vote, could be a factor in close races.
In Michigan’s 10th Congressional District, one of the races targeted by Activate America, Republican Rep. John James beat Democratic candidate Carl Marlinga by 1,600 votes in 2022 — less than half of 1% of the total votes in the race.
The postcard efforts are adding millions of pieces of mail to the U.S. postal system ahead of the election.
In testimony to Congress on Sept. 26, U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said he was not concerned about the agency’s ability to handle the additional mail.
“While election and ballot mail volume does intensify in the months leading up to the general election, and it is certainly important mail, it is not a significant volume event considering the scale of our operations and the volume that runs through our network every day,” DeJoy said.