Progressive group sending 26M postcards to boost turnout in swing states

A progressive group will send 26 million postcards to boost voter turnout in 11 swing states ahead of the 2024 election. 

Progressive Turnout Project (PTP) a Chicago-based progressive political action committee (PAC), is launching its 2024 “Postcards to Swing States program” on Wednesday. The group will organize around 203,000 volunteers who will handwrite 26 million postcards and send them to “inconsistent” Democratic voters, according to plans first shared with The Hill. 

“Our research over the past three cycles has proven that handwritten postcards can boost voter turnout by an average of 1 percent,” PTP President Alex Morgan said in a statement. “We love using data-driven methods to boost Democratic turnout and our volunteers love to write postcards, so this is a match made in heaven that will make all the difference for President Biden and Democrats up and down the ticket this November.” 

The group will invest $1.82 million in the program, part of a larger 2024 $30 million program which was first reported by The Hill in February. Apart from sending postcards, the $30 million program encompasses sending mail reminders, distributed organizing, relational organizing and relying on multiple methods to accelerate voter turnout. 

As of Wednesday, volunteers have signed up to write over 2.5 million postcards, according to the group. The postcards will reach voters in 11 states. 

Those are Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin.

The PAC projects that 26 million postcards will increase turnout by 260,000 voters heading into November. Specifically, in Georgia, the swing state that President Biden won by less than 12,000 votes in 2020, PTP is expecting to increase turnout by over 13,000 votes. 

PTP has four goals in 2024, help reelect Biden, keep the Senate in control of the Democrats, flip the lower chamber blue and strike victories in some state-level contests.