Action Playbook:

Letter Writing

Why bother? Writing letters to voters is an effective way to increase their likelihood of voting in an election. Vote Forward has found that their letter writing campaigns can boost turnout by as much as 4.2 percentage points, and it’s an extremely efficient action with respect to its impact/cost-effectiveness ratio. You can print a batch of letters to complete during the Hour of Action or spread them out over a few nights before bed—the flexibility is yours, as long as you send by the deadlines!

Note: This action requires a printer, envelopes, and stamps.

The Goal: Boost voter turnout for the climate candidate in a key and competitive congressional district.

➡️ Action Overview

  1. Make an account with Vote Forward

  2. Pick your letter campaign

  3. Claim and print a batch of letters

  4. Write your letters

  5. Wait for your send date!

Make an account with Vote Forward

Today, we’ll be writing letters to voters using mailing addresses supplied by Vote Forward. If you already have an account with Vote Forward, skip to Step 2.

If you’re new to Vote Forward, you’ll need to make an account at votefwd.org. It can take up to 36 hours for Vote Forward to verify your account, meaning you might not be able to download letters yourself today. If this is the case and you’re on an Hour of Action, put your email address in the chat with the number of letters you’d like to claim, and your Action Lead will email your letter batch to you.

Step 1

Step 2

Choose your letter campaign

Visit the Climate Changemakers dashboard on Vote Forward to view available letter campaigns. If you’re not sure which one to choose, pick one that corresponds with specific candidates you’d like to support from our U.S. House candidate slate or Climate Cabinet’s down-ballot candidate slate.

Step 3

Claim and print a batch of letters

Unless you requested assistance with claiming your letters above, select a batch of mailing addresses to claim. By claiming the addresses, you’re committing to sending letters to them. If you over-commit, make sure you “return” the unused addresses to Vote Forward so that another volunteer can use them! We recommend 20 letters per hour. When you’ve claimed your batch, print out the letter templates.

Step 4

Write your letters

Letters to voters should be short and sweet. On your template, you’ll finish the sentence “I vote in every election because…” and add another sentence or two if you’d like. If you’ve never written to voters before, read Vote Forward’s message guidelines to get a sense for what resonates with voters.

Writer’s block? Below are some ideas related to climate:

I vote in every election because….

I’m really worried about climate change and I want to see my elected officials take action! Everyone deserves access to a safe and healthy planet.

I want my kids and all kids to have not just a livable planet, but a cleaner, healthier, better one. And we need our representatives to take action to make it happen.

It's the best way to let decision-makers know what changes I want to see in our society. Also, I'm very concerned about the state of our environment and its effect on our health.

I want ALL children of this country to have access to high-quality education and I believe everyone deserves access to a safe and healthy planet. I vote because I want to see my elected officials take action to ensure that!

I want to be represented by people who have my best interests at heart and who will fight to keep our planet safe and healthy!

Send on your designated date

Seal up your envelopes and wait! Your letter has a specific send date attached to it. Some campaigns are rolling, in which case you can send immediately. Most Vote Forward campaigns have a send date of October 29, 2022.

Step 5

Thank you for taking action!

Questions? Comments? Email info@climatechangemakers.org