Since March 2nd, Hope Springs from Field PAC [website] has been knocking on doors (as weather and primaries permitted) in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin — critical states that will determine who wins the White House and the Senate majority for the next two years. For the last 2 years, Hope Springs has asked volunteers to send postcards to New Voters project, the voters who get almost no kind of communication from campaigns (because new voters don’t have a voter history). We are expanding that effort this year.
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:
2024 Hope Springs from Field New Voter Reg. Post Cards Sign Up
One of the most important aspects of our canvassing in these 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).
First Round postcard
This year, we will be expanding this project to all the New Voters in these Swing States for whom we have volunteers willing to write to them.
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.
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. Starting date (date to send out post cards to voters by volunteers) will be different because every state has different Early Voting dates.
And while we won’t be providing wording for the post cards, we are asking that the first postcard encourage Vote By Mail (VBM) or Absentee Ballots for those states that allow it (~August), that second round remind voters that Early Voting has (or is about to) started in their state and the third round focus on Election Day.
Second Wave (Motivational) Card
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, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin (but expanding beyond that base of if we generate enough interest).
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 but really state-specific), please sign up here:
2024 Hope Springs from Field New Voter Reg. Post Cards Sign Up
GOTV Reminder Card (Final or 3rd Round Card)
At the door, and through our partner Black Churches, Hope Springs from Field PAC has registered 31,185 NEW voters in little more than a year (since the November 2022 elections). But we aren’t the only ones who register new voters, so there are many more in these Swing States. Different from new voters, 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 in the 2021 Senate Runoffs. 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.
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, please donate (that’s always appreciated):
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/voterpostcards
If you would rather send a check, you can follow that link for our mailing address at the bottom of the page. Thank you for your support. This work depends upon you!