SISTER DISTRICT ACTION NETWORK

NEW VOTERS OF COLOR POSTCARD STUDY PROGRAM GUIDE

UPDATED: 7/7/21

Hello friends!

Sister District Action Network (SDAN) is launching a study looking at how effective it is to send GOTV postcards to a specific population of voters, namely 18-19 year old newly registered voters of color in Virginia. Further, it uses messaging that is meant to enforce the idea that being a voter is a desirable identity. This study will help us determine if this is a good group of voters to target with GOTV postcards, as existing targeting scores may not be accurate for new voters (because they’ve never/very rarely voted before).

This document provides important information about our New Voters of Color postcard study.  Please note that, for this project, volunteers are responsible for purchasing their own postcards and stamps as well as for mailing their cards to the in-state partner in bulk.

1. Overview

Handwritten postcarding has become very popular, but it is still understudied, especially as it pertains to postcard messaging and which voters to target. This study attempts to look at both of these. We’ll use a message invoking the desirable identity of being a voter (something that has been shown to work in the literature), and targeting will be focused on 18-19 year old newly registered voters of color. While we typically use modeled turnout and partisanship support scores in targeting voters for our studies, targeting scores are likely unreliable for new voters with little data to use in modeling their scores. So, in this study, we will instead simply include a certain set of people, in this case young voters of color. Further, newly registered voters tend to be likely to vote, and this appears to be especially true for younger, newly registered voters. And this population of voters is often overlooked, as their unreliable scores don’t land them in the typical groups of voters being contacted. That means they may be receiving fewer messages, and may be a less “noisy” group to target. Overall, we believe this is a group of voters who are understudied and who have a lot of potential for growth in terms of turnout.

In this study, half of the targets will not receive any communication from us, and half will receive a welcome/GOTV postcard emphasizing their status as a voter and reminding them about the upcoming election. Amazing Sister District volunteers will write the welcome/GOTV postcards and mail to an in-state partner (address will be provided in postcard packet) for local Virginia mailing in October. This study will allow us to further our postcarding research program while also helping us to continue to explore new populations, especially those that are historically underrepresented in the electorate.

Below, we provide background on the program, a roadmap for your involvement, and a timeline.

2. Background

1. Background & Prior Research

Sister District is a national grassroots organization with volunteer-based postcarding expertise and capacity. The research in this area conducted by Sister District’s c4 arm, SDAN, has helped to establish a variety of best practices around postcarding. Sister District volunteers complete and mail handwritten postcards to target voters, and then SDAN tracks voter behavior after the election to determine if the postcards were influential, and to what degree. We are unaware of any other studies that specifically target this population of voters (though these voters are likely at the intersection of several different voter persuasion and mobilization efforts), so this turnout study will be especially useful as an initial indication if this is a highly persuadable group of voters.

2. Program Design & Specific Aims

This program is designed as a randomized controlled trial of individuals who are registered Virginia voters, aged 18-19, and are marked as a racial or ethnic minority in the voter file. All voters who meet this criteria in the state of Virginia will be enrolled in the study, with half receiving a postcard and half receiving nothing.

Sister District volunteers will complete and send postcards to an in-state partner, who will then mail the postcards to targets assigned to receive postcards from within Virginia. The other half of the targets will receive no postcards.

After the 2021 general election, SDAN will match the target list to the voter file, to see who did and didn’t turn out to vote. By designing the program this way, we’ll be able to determine if these postcards were helpful in boosting voter turnout among this sample.

3. Project Roadmap

1. Addresses.

1. Team leaders sign up to take on postcards for this study beginning July 12. Form will close July 20, 2021.
2. The participating volunteer leader will keep in contact with SDAN Program Associate Ore via email (ore@sisterdistrict.com) to determine if the team has the capacity to complete all postcards by October 12, 2021.
3. Please note that the number of addresses available will be based on the number of people who fall into the inclusion criteria for this study. We expect the number of addresses will be around 10,000.

2. Volunteer Leader Training. Sister District will have a Zoom training for this study on July 20, 2021 at 8pm ET/5pm PT for the volunteer leaders helping with the study. The training will explain the program, go through the timeline and requirements, and provide answers to frequently asked questions. A recording will be distributed if you can’t attend the training. Register for the training here.

3. Postcard Packet & Address Distribution. We will provide a postcard packet that contains detailed instructions, relevant dates, messaging information, and guidelines regarding acceptable postcards that can be purchased. Sister District will distribute addresses to the volunteer leader on July 21, 2021. Once we distribute addresses, the volunteer leader will have approximately three months to make sure that postcards are completed and batch mailed to the in-state partner by October 12, 2021. Please note, you can send the postcards to our in-state partner early if you would like.

4. Card Writing & Mailing.

1. The volunteer leader will work with their teams to complete the postcards. Sister District will check in with the volunteer leader one month and one week prior to the assigned mail date to ensure the team is on track for completion. 
2. The volunteer leader will keep Sister District informed of any issues, including an inability to complete the postcards on time.
3. The volunteer leader will be responsible for batch-mailing the cards to the in-state partner by October 12, 2021. Volunteer leaders can send cards early! October 12 is the drop dead deadline for mailing.
4. Volunteers are responsible for purchasing their own postcards & stamps, as well as for the costs of shipping the cards to the in-state partner for local mailing. Costs do not need to be reported.

5. Data Analysis & Sharing. After the election, Sister District will assess voter turnout and perform data analysis. Aggregate results will be provided to participating teams.

4. Timeline (Subject to minor adjustment)

3. July 12: Program launches; sign-up form opens.
4. July 20:

1. 5:00pm ET: Volunteer leader sign up form closes.
2. 8:00 pm ET: Volunteer training Zoom

5. July 21: Volunteer leaders receive addresses/materials
6. July 21-October 11: Sister District volunteers write postcards.
7. Oct. 12: Volunteer leaders batch mails postcards to in-state partner (if not earlier)
8. Spring 2021: Sister District performs data analysis and shares aggregate results.

Sister District Action Network (SDAN) is a 501(c)(4) organization that primarily focuses on nonpartisan education and advocacy on civic engagement issues. Specifically, SDAN aims to:

• Educate voters on the importance of state and local elections;
• Conduct research in partnership with nonprofit and academic partners to test new methods to increase civic engagement and voter participation;
• Disseminate best practices for voter engagement and civic participation.

SDAN is affiliated with the Sister District Project, but it is a separate legal entity.