(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Call for Volunteers: Who wants to be a Postcard Writer? (Postcard Writers 4 New Voters in Virginia) [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-08-01 There are a lot of important elections in 2023. In fact, the number of competitive elections in what is supposed to be an off-election year is increasing, as Democratic groups are arguing the Reproductive Healthcare is changing the equations even as we speak. The special election in Ohio on Issue 1 and then the constitutional amendment on the November ballot are two, but equally important are the state legislative races in Virginia this November. Democrats controlled the state legislature, but lost control in the General Assembly in 2021. Glenn Youngkin appears to want to use this year’s election as a springboard into the presidential race, but it is really his determination to gain a Republican monopoly of state control (commonly called a state trifecta) that has energized our volunteers. Virginians, or at least Virginia Democrats, see the governor as a trojan horse. He pretends to be a moderate, but he sure governs like a Trumpist. And Virginia isn’t a Trumpie state. But this election, just like Ohio, is really about Reproductive Freedom, Freedom of Reproductive Healthcare — it’s about abortion. Youngkin is raising big money to seize the Virginia Senate so that he can enact his anti-Reproductive Freedom agenda. VA Senate (competitive districts in stripes) Districts 24, 30 & 31 Hope Springs from Field PAC volunteers started knocking in Virginia on April 15th in support of Democrats in highly contested (or expected to be) state Senate and General Assembly (House) districts. The 2023 legislative elections will be their first after redistricting and a lot of lines got moved in the remap. VA General Assembly Dists 21, 22, 57, 65, 82 & 84 (competitive = stripes) Unlike our Postcards to New Voters last November, volunteers (that’s you!) writing to newly-registered voters will be sending them to all the new Democrats in the competitive district. 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. Starting in September, 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. 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. 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. Can you help? 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 right after Labor Day, late September, mid-October), please sign up here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1auWAl5a-qaCvbS0uKCm4e_A6r4luO3Nr1dpb9wy752U/ Second Wave (Motivational) Card New Voters simply should not be neglected. Campaigns rationally choose to focus on frequent voters, since they have scarce resources. But New Voters have no voter history and it is fitting that the grassroots take up the cause of motivating New Voters and getting them to vote. 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. GOTV Reminder Card (Final or 3 Card) 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. It is important to note that these 3 rounds of postcards merely kickoff our efforts to mobilize Newly-Registered Voters to turn out in November. Just like we did last year, 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 definitely another place where we use 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! [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/8/1/2184516/-Call-for-Volunteers-Who-wants-to-be-a-Postcard-Writer-Postcard-Writers-4-New-Voters-in-Virginia Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/