Friends - Bad actors, foreign and domestic, are investing heavily in disinformation to make us feel helpless - like we can sit out this election, like we can't make a difference.
Not true.
In fact, at Blue Wave we're often asked what more people can do to help!
To meet our 2024 goal of reaching an additional 3 million voters in swing states, our order processing is increasing to 25K postcards a day. (Contrast that to when we started in early 2020, selling 10-20K a month). So yes - while we have built a strong infrastructure, our volunteer team could really use more help!
Below's a list of where YOU can make a difference. Some of these you may already do (thank you)! But picking at least one additional action item would go far toward saving our democracy:
- First: Write Blue Wave Postcards. Here's the campaign strategies we'll be focusing on before November:
- Register voters (VR) in Swing States: Up to 60% of unregistered voters have never been asked to register! Send postcards to help change that - we include state-specific QR codes to make registration EASY.
- Urge registered Swing State voters to Vote By Mail (VBM). Voter participation increased by 8% in Colorado when VBM was instituted. The effects were significantly larger for low-propensity voters - our target. People will more likely vote if they receive a mail-in ballot.
- Get Out the Vote (GOTV) in Swing States: We make sure that our postcards explain the significance of the recipient’s vote on issues that they care about.
- Start a Blue Wave postcard-writing Group: Gather a few friends on your own or see how to start a group here. We’re big fans of community building and love 2,000 postcard box orders! Not only does this help us reach our voter outreach goal, but combining multiple kits for friends into one order saves us processing time and will discount your postcards and shipping costs.
- Donate to our Stamp Fund: No time to write but want to help? We have scores of writers who would gladly send out more cards but are on fixed budgets - donating to our stamp fund helps them continue to reach voters!
Related: stamp prices are rising again(!) on 7/14 from $53 to $56 per 100 postcard stamp roll. Stock up now.
- Send extra postcards to tell others about the Blue Wave Postcard Movement. Each postcard kit has a few extras - please hand them out or mail them to friends/family that want to get involved in the pro-democracy movement but don’t know where to start. See how one of our volunteers did this here.
- Spread the word! We have SWAG! Visit Blue Wave’s shop on Zazzle and grab a magnetic bumper sticker, t-shirt, mug and/or yard sign. Proceeds go to our stamp fund.
- Volunteer! If you are local (Boulder/Louisville area), we can always use more people to help sort postcards into kits, help ship postcard kits to customers, or to be a courier to deliver shipping orders to UPS. Contact us at info@bluewavepostcards.org to find out more.
- Listen to the concerns of your disengaged family and friends and have conversations over time about the countless accomplishments of the Biden/Harris administration regarding the issues important to them. In our fractured news environment, they're likely unaware.
Emphasize the stakes of this election: how unfit - and I can't believe we still have to say this - the twice-impeached, adjudicated rapist, felon, coup-attempting, R nominee and his band of ghoulish autocrats are. How they'll make red-state, nightmare legislation national through their 2025 plan. Check back to this blog space - we'll provide talking points if you need some.
Volunteers change elections, friends. Personal conversations can, too.
Don't sit this one out. We can make a difference.
Lisa Gillespie
Marketing/Outreach Director
Blue Wave Postcard Movement