Driven by impact

To maximize our impact, we always evaluate our tactics, iterate, and scale them based on how well they meet our objectives.

Our track record

Vote Forward began in 2017 with a randomized controlled trial (RCT), which demonstrated that personal, handwritten letters can effectively encourage fellow citizens to turn out to vote. We’ve since grown into an organization that regularly and rigorously tests new, measurable, volunteer-driven strategies to engage and mobilize voters at scale—and a community of thousands of grassroots supporters who power these efforts.

We’ve tested the effectiveness of our letters on voter turnout 29 times through RCTs (the gold standard in research), measuring a positive impact in 22 of those experiments. In our pursuit of innovation, we transparently share our learnings with the public.

Read our most recent 2025 election results.

See all research

A group of six people sitting around a table with snacks and prepared letters and stamps.

Two people in hats stand in a front yard holding a box of letters.

A woman in a bright yellow dress and holding up a peace sign with one hand and a stack of letters in the other hand.

Our process

1. Experimental design

Lead randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and other studies designed by our team of research scientists.

2. Target selection

Identify elections, voter contact tactics, and civic engagement needs that matter most to democracy, based on our data and political experts.

3. Volunteer action

Support 285K+ volunteers contacting fellow Americans across the country.

4. Connection

Reach targeted voters with handwritten letters or other forms of outreach.

5. Participation

Voters head to the polls, vote by mail, register to vote, or otherwise engage.

6. Outcomes

Rigorously test the impact of our experiments on voter participation and civic engagement and share results.

Our proof points

Scale
Since 2017, Vote Forward’s community of 285K+ volunteers has written more than 40 million letters to voters.

Rigor
We’ve conducted dozens of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and publicly shared the results each time. In 2025, the Analyst Institute honored Vote Forward as the first-ever recipient of the Malchow Award, honoring organizations that strengthen community learning by sharing results that challenge assumptions, including null and negative findings—and whose candor and rigor help the whole field move forward.

Impact
22 out of 29 of our experiments have shown a positive (non-null) effect on voter turnout, providing evidence that letter writing has made a material difference in a range of municipal, statewide, and national elections over the past eight years.

Learn more about us