Passing Down Postcards
Hello! My name is Abby Pardee Albrecht and I’m thrilled to be a founding member of the North Shore NAACP branch. Although we’ve technically only been chartered for a few weeks, our branch has already jumped headfirst into several different initiatives. My time has been focused on the Reclaim Our Vote (ROV) postcard writing campaign to help ensure that Black voters are heard in the November 3rd election.
I first heard about the ROV postcard writing campaign through my mother and her friends in Rockport, who were already writing postcards to Black voters who had been de-registered in North Carolina, using lists provided by the NC NAACP. I thought I’d bring it to our group and see if I could get a few writers to help. Not only did I get a great response with over 40 members volunteering to write postcards, but several of our members were already working on their own postcard writing campaigns. In just a couple of weeks, we’ve helped ROV close out the lists of de-registered voters in NC by writing over 1,200 of them, and we’re now writing postcards to get voters of color out to the polls in Texas. These campaigns move fast and pivot to areas of greatest need. This is democracy in action!
Our current Texas script asks active, registered voters to pledge to vote early and to ask five friends to do the same. This round of postcards will be mailed between September 1st and 5th, and it will have a contact number to an automated machine that will provide up-to-date information about early voting locations. The goal is to avoid long lines on election day, reduce exposure to Covid, and avoid other forms of voter intimidation such as lack of information and the spread of misinformation. Asking voters to tell five other people to do the same is known as “vote-tripling” and has proven to increase accountability and turnout.
Postcard writing has become a multi-generational activity in my house. It started with my mother, but now my kids are all getting involved as well. I do the writing, and they help by counting and stamping postcards, and decorating the front. Working on this together has sparked some great conversations revolving around race and voting.
I started my career many years ago (before 4 kids) as a political organizer for a non-profit organization. I spent most of my time working on political campaigns for candidates that were dedicated to our cause, and I have seen the impact it has when we mobilize voters and get out the vote. I believe there has never been a greater need than right now for every voice to be heard and counted.
We can always use more postcard writers, so please reach out to me via email at abpardee [at] yahoo.com if you are interested in helping. We may be a new branch, but our dedicated group of members is proving to be a committed force for change. I’m really excited to see what else we can do!