New Voter Guide Pilot Instructions

The Vote Forward team is piloting our latest program—New Voter Guides—with newly registered voters in Pennsylvania. These guides maintain what worked best from past years’ successful letter writing campaigns.

⮕ The human connection between volunteers like you and potential voters

⮕ The flexibility of taking action at any time, anywhere

⮕ The ability to volunteer together with friends, family, or on your own

OUR GOAL

Ensure fellow Americans who are newly eligible to vote actually cast their ballots in 2026.

What’s in the New Voter Guide?

  • A 2026 Election Planner, where a voter can personalize their plan to vote in the midterm elections.

  • Key information about this year’s elections and what’s at stake.

  • Helpful links to Pennsylvania-specific voting resourcing.

  • A space for you to add a personal message to the voter

New Voter Guide highlighted with a green border for the area volunteers are meant to fill in.

The Sender fills out this part outlined in green before mailing to a voter.

New Voter Guide highlighted with a red border for the area recipients are meant to fill in.

The Recipient fills out this part outlined in red once they receive the guide in the mail.

What you’ll need

We’ve designed our New Voter Guides to be self-mailing, so you won’t need to purchase envelopes!

2026 Election Planner with spaces for candidate info, primary date, and election date, marked with a blue pen on a blue background.
A roll of clear adhesive tape with an orange pull tab and a label, along with a pack of color-coding labels in a plastic case on a blue background.
A postage stamp featuring the American flag with a stylized design and the words 'USA Forever'.

Forever Stamps

Sticker rounds
or clear tape

Double-sided printed sheets and a pen

Preparing a New Voter Guide

STEP 1

Print the guides double-sided. Write the recipient’s name and address, our provided return address, and a short, personal message to the new Pennsylvania voter on one side. The other side is for the recipient to fill out!

Print & fill it out

A handwritten envelope with addresses in blue ink, sending from Mandy P in Philadelphia to Janet Voter in Philadelphia.
A celebratory message encouraging voting, with a handwritten note about the importance of midterm elections and listening to voters.

STEP 2

Fold the letter into quarters, with the Election Planner on the inside and the address and personal note on the outside.

Add a sticker round or a small piece of clear tape to either side to seal the guide shut.

Fold it up

A sample image for how to fold New Voter Guides: Hamburger-style in half, then folded in half again, with the Election Planner content safely on the inside, and the portion for the recipients address on the outside.
A sample image for how to fold New Voter Guides: Hamburger-style in half, then folded in half again, with the Election Planner content safely on the inside, and the portion for the recipients address on the outside.

STEP 3

Add a stamp and drop it in the mail at any time. Mail all of the guides you prepare by May 12, 2026, so they arrive ahead of the Pennsylvania primary election on May 19, 2026.

Send it off

An example of a finished New Voter Guide ready to be sent in the mail!

Ready to start sending New Voter Guides to voters in PA?

Adopt voters

Frequently Asked Questions

  • The New Voter Guide message should still follow the guidelines of all Vote Forward letters by not mentioning parties or candidates, remaining positive, and being authentic to you. We say “be positive” not to dismiss real challenges in our world, but because we know messages that generate excitement about voting help motivate letter recipients to cast a ballot. You can review our full guidance here.

  • Yes, it’s totally fine to use your own materials to enhance your letters! Using markers or colored pens, stickers, post-its, or whatever you have on-hand, you can decorate your letters to emphasize the importance of voting this year. Our volunteers often do this by highlighting important parts of their “why I vote” message, emphasizing key dates in the election calendar, or adding voting-themed stickers.

  • We are focusing our current efforts on Pennsylvania, but other states will become available later in the year. Pennsylvania is a state with a relatively early primary (May 19), which will allow us to gather data from the state voter file to assess effectiveness early in the year. This early information will help inform our decisions about how to improve New Voter Guides while we prepare to expand into other states.

  • You should use one regular First-Class Forever stamp, not a postcard stamp, to send each folded guide. Once you’ve followed the instructions to prepare, fold, and seal your guide, you can mail them just like you would mail any regular envelope. We have designed these guides to meet USPS standards for letters.

  • You’ll have to look within your printer settings to be sure. With the print menu open, choose the “More Settings” drop-down arrow. Choose the “Print on both sides” option for two-sided printing.

  • You can either go to a print shop, or manually facilitate two-sided printing at home by printing only the fronts, and then only the backs, on the same stack of paper. You’ll need to run a test sheet through your printer to determine which side gets printed on; try making a mark on one side of the paper before running it through. Then, in the printing options for your file, choose “Odd pages only” and print those. Then repeat with Even pages, oriented properly.

Email the Vote Forward help desk: hello@votefwd.org

Need additional support?