2024
Postcards4VA
Check out our directory of postcard groups in Virginia.
Sign Up to Write Postcards
Register to write postcards to Virginia voters in 2024.
2024 Virginia Postcards
Our postcard program is over for 2024. Thank you to everyone who participated. When we Vote, We WIN! When we write postcards, We WIN!
Candidates
We wrote postcards for the following candidates.
Nuggets – Inspirational Mini Cards
Inspirational mini cards to hand out to friends, family, and people you meeting during the day. Chat with someone in the check out line…give them a nugget card. Have a conversation with someone while walking your dog…give them a nugget card. Every encounter is a nugget delivery opportunity.
Each card delivers a big message in a small space.
Giving a nugget card to someone might be just the spark they need to help save Democracy and VOTE!
Read our 2-part series on DemCast that looks at the power of postcards to boost voter turnout and build and create communities of activists.
PART 1: Yes, Postcards to Voters Do Boost Interest and Turnout!
MAY 12, 2021 | 13 MINS READ
There’s a new type of card joining the ranks of Mother’s Day, holiday, and birthday cards. When an election is coming up, volunteers get together and handwrite postcards to mail to voters asking them to register to vote and providing important candidate and election information. This wildly popular activity started among grassroots activists in 2017 and has been used in every election since. In a time when most people get their information on their phone or computer, is something as low-tech as a handwritten card that arrives in your mailbox an effective way to boost voter turnout? [Read full article]
PART 2: Handwriting Postcards to Voters Creates Communities of Activists
MAY 20, 2021 | 8 MINS READ
Following the 2016 election of Donald Trump, one of the activities that will forever be associated with the rise of grassroots activism is writing postcards to voters. These catchy cards with handwritten personal messages about the importance of voting have grown in popularity with each campaign and election cycle. Along with examining whether postcards boost turnout (they do!), Postcards4VA, one of the earliest statewide grassroots postcard writing groups, has been asking the question: What is it about handwriting postcards that appeals so much to volunteers? [Read full article]
Workshop Video
Check out the workshop we did for the Organizing 2.0 conference, “How and Why Postcards Work at Boosting Voter Turnout and Engaging Volunteers” facilitated by Robbin Warner (Co-Founder, Postcards4VA) and Jen Runkle (Postcards4VA Alexandria).
Postcards Videos
The Power of Postcards
Through the words of postcard writers, this videos shows how writing postcards connects with the voter, empowers the writer, and expands scope of activism.
Original version that premiered at the Network NoVA 2020 Women’s Summit | Length 2:57
Extended play version | Length 4:44
Baby You Can Write Postcards
A celebration of Virginians writing postcards to Virginians to vote on Nov. 6, 2018. This video was made to honor all those who participated in Postcard4VA’s Postcard Palooza, Sept 10-16, 2018.
Postcarding is Craftivism
At Postcards4VA, we don’t merely write messages on cards, we engage in craftivism*—the merging of activism with crafting. Our postcards are handwritten personal messages that are customized with the use of colored markers (sharpies), stamps, and stickers.
By writing postcards we are engaging in acts of guerilla kindness.** This is not assembly line democracy where consultants come up with the perfect message for volunteers to handwrite in bulk. This is slow activism where thought, care, and authenticity reigns supreme. Each handcrafted postcard is proof that making politics personal can be a source of surprise and delight, an unexpected handmade gift that arrives in the mailbox.
Though at first many discounted our postcards, today our postcards are the most popular grassroots volunteer activity in Virginia. Our postcards reach voters in areas with little or limited broadband; where the U.S. postal service is still an important information distribution system. Moreover, in this time of social distancing, the mail is probably the safest way to reach out to voters.
We are going to use this page to present postcard craftivism ideas. If you have a project you would like us to share, email us at participate@postcards4va.com.
*Craftivism: The Art of Craft and Activism by Betsy Greer, editor (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2014).
**Guerilla Kindness and Other Acts of Creative Resistance: Making a Better World Through Craftivism by Sayraphim Lothiam (Mango, 2018).
Upcycled Food Box Postcards
Learn how to make these fun and one-of-a-kind postcards from food products already in your house. A perfect social distancing activity to do with the kids.
2024
Resources
Messaging Research
Check out these guides on how to message to voters.
Finding Postcards
We can link you up to affordable great designs to purchase or print.
Do Postcards Work?
Check out recent studies on the impact of postcards.
ABOUT: Postcards4VA is a grassroots initiative to connect with friends, neighbors, and voters throughout the state of Virginia asking them to vote. In 2017 we wrote 137,000 postcards to Virginia voters. In 2018 we exceeded 332,000 postcards. In 2019 we wrote 253,000 postcards and helped flip Virginia blue by taking back the majority in the both houses. When the pandemic hit in 2020, postcard groups stepped up and wrote almost a half million postcards. In 2021, we wrote 320,000 postcards and in 2022 we wrote 307,000. In 2023 we were ALL IN to WIN Virginia. In 2024 we are focusing on Voting Day 1 up and down the ballot. We write. We Vote. We WIN!
CONTACT: participate@postcards4VA.com