This nonpartisan nonprofit uses social pressure letters to get Arizonans to vote

(KJZZ) – LAUREN GILGER: All of us are being inundated with election ads right now, from the television airwaves to every app we’re on, to a string of text messages I can’t seem to unsubscribe from.

And then there’s the election mail. We’re all getting tons of it, I’m sure, and one piece made our producer, Amber Victoria Singer, stop and ask some questions. And Amber’s here now to tell us more about it. Good morning, Amber.

AMBER VICTORIA SINGER: Morning.

LAUREN GILGER: OK, so there was one piece of election mail you got that kind of made you stop. Tell us about it.

AMBER VICTORIA SINGER: Yeah, our mailbox has been stuffed with election-related mail all month. And there was one piece of mail, it was this just folded white piece of paper, and it said “Award enclosed.” And as a former gifted child, it got me. I was like, “OK, let me open this. What is this?”

And I opened it, and it was a “Great Citizen Award” is what it said, and it was from Tom Lopach at the Voter Participation Center. And it said, “Thank you for voting in 2024. You can earn this Great Citizen Award by voting in this year’s election. Make sure you vote by Nov. 3.”

LAUREN GILGER: OK, so you’re a journalist, so you didn’t stop there. You tracked down the guy behind this, this Tom Lopach guy, right, who signed this award for you. Who is he?

AMBER VICTORIA SINGER: Yeah, so I was curious about what the Voter Participation Center was, so I looked into it. And I found Tom Lopach, who is the president and CEO of both the nonprofit organization Voter Participation Center and also the Center for Voter Information, which these two organizations have spent millions of dollars on mailers and other types of digital ads encouraging people to go out and vote.

And they seem very similar, but the Voter Participation Center specifically targets young people, people of color and unmarried women. And as a young, unmarried woman, I am definitely in that demographic that they’re targeting, which I’m assuming is why I got that piece of mail.

LAUREN GILGER: Why you got that piece of mail. OK, so you are obviously a producer here on The Show, so you had to ask him to come on The Show and talk about this.

So let’s hear it. This is my interview with Tom all about these mailers — they are sending out 4.5 million pieces of mail just here in Arizona — and why he thinks they will get people who don’t often vote to step up and head to the polls.