Newly registered voters are highly likely to vote
Sure, you can send volunteers with clipboards to accost random passersby on street corners or at the farmers market and ask if they are registered to vote. Or your state party could be, you know, strategic.
This post from Wisconsin Public Radio is from July 6, but if you like the idea of Democrats winning in November (and you have any clout with your state party), heads up:
The Wisconsin Election Commission will mail about 178,500 postcards to eligible voters who are not yet registered to vote.
The postcards, which will be mailed Friday, tell recipients they can register to vote online. The mailing does not include a voter registration form.
The postcards are required under Wisconsin’s membership agreement with the Electronic Registration Information Center, a multi-state database of government records known as ERIC.
Wisconsin joined ERIC in 2016 under a law passed by GOP legislators and signed by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker. It has since come under scrutiny from Republicans who’ve cast doubt on the 2020 election.
Wisconsin has sent similar postcards every two years dating back to 2016. That year, the WEC sent the cards to 1.28 million eligible but unregistered residents.
“Wisconsinites will likely receive numerous election-related mailings this summer that may appear official but in reality, are not,” said WEC Administrator Meagan Wolfe in a press release announcing the mailing. “Wisconsin voters, however, can rely upon the information provided in these official postcards about how eligible citizens can register to vote.”
The WEC said the mailings won’t be sent to people who are not eligible to vote, such as those serving a sentence for a felony. People who have recently moved but did not fill out a form for a forwarding address also won’t receive the postcard.
People who receive the postcard can register online, by mail, at their clerk’s office or at their polling place on Election Day.
The WEC says people who are registered to vote but are inadvertently sent the postcard can check their voting status at myvote.wi.gov.
There are currently 31 ERIC member states, red and blue, plus the District. Over 20 have governors’ and senatorial races in 2022. All states have congressional races. Florida mailed 2.2 million ERIC postcards in 2020.
A couple of studies (2013 and 2020) have shown the mailings result in a roughly 1% rise in voter registration and a 0.9% increase in voter turnout. (Sound small?)
ERIC cross-references states’ DMV databases against the voter registration database (and a couple others) to identify potentially eligible but unregistered persons, then sends their proprietary target lists to member states’ boards of elections. The states send out the invitations which, by definition, are nonpartisan. They go to people with no party affiliation.
National Voter Registration Day Returns on September 20th 2022!
Wisconsin is an early bird. Other ERIC states send their postcards just after Labor Day.
Democratic state executive directors able to think outside the VoteBuilder box could exploit this state-funded outreach if they do their homework over the next month. Surveys suggest contacts from official state sources are more effective in generating a response than partisan mailings. Follow-up statewide canvasses in targeted neighborhoods could boost both the postcard-driven registration rise and Democratic lean of new registrants. Plus, inform the less-engaged that an election key to preserving our freedoms is just weeks away.
How, you ask?
Ask me fast: tpostsully at gmail dot com
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Request a copy of For The Win, 4th Edition, my free, countywide get-out-the-vote planning guide for county committees at ForTheWin.us.