Pennsylvania Midterms 2022: Enclosed Items
The takeaways
Including an extra item along with a Vote Forward letter shows promise for boosting voter turnout
The backstory
In studies and interviews with voters, the number one thing they tell us is that Vote Forward letters are different from the other kinds of political mail they receive. The simple handwritten envelope, along with the personal message inside, catches their attention. Unlike a glossy flyer or printed form, this letter appears to be authentic, something that came from a real person. The letter-writer’s clear investment of time and energy in creating this personalized note can convey to the voter that the letter is valuable and important: something worth opening and perhaps keeping around.
In 2022, we tried out a new way to make Vote Forward letters even more attention-catching and memorable: would small items, enclosed inside envelopes along with letters, make the letters more effective at raising voter turnout? To test this, we pulled out 30,000 voters in our 2022 voter turnout letter campaign in Pennsylvania and assigned them into three experimental conditions. Voters in one group would receive a Vote Forward letter focused on raising turnout, just as always. The other two groups would receive either a flexible magnet with a voting-themed design (see below), or a handwritten sticky note with a reminder that Election Day was November 8, along with their letter.
Fascinatingly, we saw evidence that both types of enclosed item may have meaningfully raised voter turnout, compared to letters with no items. We say “may have” here because this study, with only 30,000 voters, was smaller than a typical Vote Forward research experiment, and therefore the conclusions we can draw from it are more limited.
However, we found these results promising enough to inspire our 2024 “letter enhancements” program, which offers letter writers optional ideas and guidance on how to modify their own Vote Forward letters to make them more eye-catching and — hopefully — more effective. We also have an online store where volunteers will soon be able to order small items to enclose with their letters, including original designs created by members of our own volunteer community.
This year’s elections are so important that we want to offer volunteers all the evidence-supported options we can, so we can collectively have the biggest impact possible. To find out more and get started enhancing your letters, visit votefwd.org/enhancements. We’re always refreshing our 2024 campaigns with new voters and new places to write, so don’t forget to check out all the letter writing options at votefwd.org/campaigns.
