Writing Postcards to Voters Works

Tonight, a feel good story!

This afternoon, from 3:30 to 4:00 p.m., I had the amazing opportunity to spend half an hour with several hundred people who were in hour 22 of a 24-hour marathon postcard writing session. The event, formally known as 24 Hours in '24 Our Freedoms Are On The Ballot Postcard Around The Clock 3.0, was a huge success.

The event kicked off yesterday, Monday, at 7:30 p.m. with Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi. The idea was to keep the participants going with a constant stream of interesting conversations so they could write POSTCARDS. I’m told some of the participants pulled an all-nighter. By the time they finish up tonight, they’ll have visited with DNC Chair Jaime Harrison, Heather Cox Richardson, Senator Elizabeth Warren, and so many more! The joy is definitely back in politics.

Three groups of activists who put the event together, Downtown Nasty Women Social Group, Markers For Democracy, and Team Min, have been working together since the start of the Trump presidency. The groups were founded in the aftermath of the 2016 election and the January 2017 Women’s March. They’ve been writing postcards to voters since 2017 and have written so many postcards that they stopped counting several hundred thousand postcards ago.

Something that I love about these people is that they write postcards for races up and down the ballot, and they write all year round to make sure they focus attention on special elections and other elections that don’t happen in November. They described the current moment we’re in as “like tax season but for postcard writers.”

My connection with these lovely people started with knitters. A knitter friend connected me with Julie Kern, one of the organizers for this event. Julie and I are best friends now because we’ve both knit this hat. This is how being a knitter works; I don’t make the rules.

Knitters are also very effective political organizers as you can see.

If you’re interested in writing postcards, there is a lot of information online. You can find Markers For Democracy here. The website has lots of information, including a postcarding section, and from there, you can sign up and get involved. Data suggests postcards make a difference in voter turnout.

My friend Marissa Rothkopf (Secret Life of Cookies on Substack) was on right after me, so I stuck around for her half hour and scooped this fabulous drink recipe y’all are going to want!

The Blue Wave Cocktail (Serves 1)

What You’ll Need:

2 ounces tequila

1 ounce Campari (or similar)

½ ounce Amaro liqueur

½ teaspoon maple syrup

Dash of bitters

To Make:

Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice.

Add the tequila, Campari, Amaro, maple syrup and the dash of bitters.

Put the lid on the shaker and give the shaker, um, a shake. A few gentle shakes will do, there is no need to go all Tom Cruise on this one.

Strain into a glass over ice, write postcards and save democracy.

Thank you Marissa!

Some of you may remember the amazing victory of state Representative Marilyn Lands. Lands flipped a secure Republican district in Alabama blue in a special election in March of this year. You can read about it here, and if you need a boost right now, this is a good story, it’s a reminder that when abortion is on the ballot, (like it is everywhere this year), and when Democrats campaign hard (which we’re all doing), we win. I’ve always remembered this lovely comment from a reader when I wrote about Lands’ victory.

Tina, if you’re reading tonight, I feel certain your postcard helped. And it’s something we can all do between now and the election to help democracy win.

If you’re looking for something to do, don’t hesitate. The voters you reach out to may make a difference in their states’ elections, which means you can make a difference.

We’re in this together,

Joyce