How We Do Our Work

VPC and CVI also use digital ads to encourage people to register and vote.

VPC sends voter registration applications, vote by mail applications, and get out the vote mailings to the New American Majority—young people, people of color, and unmarried women. The NAM represents 64% of the voting eligible population in the United States but registers and votes at lower rates than other groups. Only 65% of the NAM is registered while 35% are unregistered. Our efforts are extraordinarily successful—since 2003, VPC has helped to register over 6 million voters and encouraged tens of millions more to turn out to vote.

VPC sends voter registration applications, vote by mail applications and get out the vote mailings, including information about a recipient’s voting history compared to other people in their community. These are all designed to encourage citizens to participate in democracy. Our partner organization, the Center for Voter Information, sends similar types of mail, as well as information about current issues.

Please see recent examples of the kinds of mail VPC sends:

Voter registration mailing (2024 – Pennsylvania)

Voting by mail application mailing (2024 – Georgia)

Registering to vote and voting by mail are proven to be safe, secure and effective. If an eligible voter receives an extra application in the mail or if a recipient is ineligible, the letter included in the mailing encourages them to use it to help eligible friends and family members apply to vote by mail. Election offices do a thorough check of all applications to register to vote or requests to vote by mail to ensure the applicant can legally do so.

VPC uses the best technology available to ensure that voter registration mail recipients are eligible to vote and are currently unregistered. Since no state makes available a list of individuals who are unregistered or ineligible, VPC utilizes commercially available individual and residential databases and matches them to the state’s voter file to determine who is unregistered and otherwise eligible. Because commercial data can be out of date or inaccurate, VPC sends most mail addressed to “Current Resident,” rather than specific people. The cover letter encourages registered voters who may receive the mailing to help unregistered friends and family members register to vote.

Yes, mail-based registration and vote-by-mail applications will be honored, whether from state election officials or third-party organizations such as VPC and CVI, as long as the information included is accurate, complete and sent in a timely manner. Our mailings are in compliance with state election laws, as explained in more detail below. Eligible voters should adhere to deadlines set by their state election officials, but we recommend sending in completed applications as soon as possible.

Our voter registration mail includes a letter urging the recipient to register and an official state or national voter registration form. It also includes an envelope with pre-paid postage addressed to their relevant election office. VPC does not handle people’s voter registration forms.

VPC and its partner, the Center for Voter Information, work across the country to fill gaps in state and local efforts to empower citizens to register and cast their ballots. 

Our goal is to work successfully and transparently with election officials and the public. Before we develop mailings, we communicate with election officials to ensure that our mail is accurate, reflects recent changes in the law and meets the standards of local election officials. Additionally, before each large-scale voter registration or absentee mailing lands, we contact election officials to inform them of the number of pieces being mailed and share samples of the mailing being sent.

We’ve made several improvements to our work over the years, thanks to constructive suggestions from election officials and their constituents. 

VPC shares the goals of these election officials,  to ensure all eligible citizens can register, vote and make their voices heard in our democracy.

VPC is a 501(c)3 non-partisan, non-profit organization. We focus on registering people and encouraging them to vote. Our partner organization, the Center for Voter Information, is a 501(c)4 which also focuses on voter registration and mobilization. CVI also sends mailings to educate voters on where candidates stand on key issues.

Error reporting is critical for helping us improve our program. Errors can be reported when people unsubscribe from mailings. Common errors include the intended recipient of a piece of mail having moved, the recipient registering under a more formal version of their name (e.g. “William” rather than “Bill”), a recipient being ineligible to register due to age or citizenship status, and intended recipients having passed away. In an effort to mitigate errors, VPC mail includes clear instructions for checking one’s voter registration and mail ballot status if a recipient believes that they are already signed up. The mail also has clear language about not completing the form if one is ineligible to do so. We take error reporting and program improvements to reduce error rates very seriously. As a result of our efforts to improve, our error rates have shrunk to less than a fraction of a percent across all our programming, and any errors that do occur do not lead to voter disenfranchisement.

Errors are very rare, and we take them very seriously. Our team checks mail against multiple data sources, including lists of registered voters, the national change of address database, and the Social Security Death Master File. We also check addresses against the Coding Accuracy Support System maintained by the U.S. Postal Service and use two separate systems to accurately assign mail to the correct county when county-level officials are responsible for voter registration. We are constantly testing and improving our programming and data sources to increase the number of people we can register and reduce errors.

Each mailing has a unique code and instructions for unsubscribing online.

Please fill out the form on our contact us page and a member of our staff will get back to you shortly.