Campaign postcard: Meth addict wants you to vote

Just when you think you've seen everything in the realm of political advertising....

A few days ago, a Tulsa voter received a postcard with a photo of a relative, a meth addict named Matthew who lives on the street. The card was from a group called Oklahoma Decides. I've blurred the recipient's address and Matthew's face, but left the name to bear witness to the customization of this voter outreach effort.

Let's notice a few things about this unusual postcard.

The front of the card reads:

Matthew, tanned and tattooed, with short gray hair and stubble, is shirtless except for the straps of a backpack. He has a downcast expression, not looking at the camera. He is holding a clipboard with a poster that reads, "OKLAHOMA IS OURS. VOTE LIKE IT!" and appears to show the Oklahoma City skyline, with the Devon Tower in the background.

The back says, "TEXT Matthew TO LET THEM KNOW YOU GOT THEIR POSTCARD!" There's a smaller version of the photo of Matthew holding the clipboard, and beneath it, this admonition:

The QR code leads to oklahoma.gov/elections.

Who sent the card?

The same address appears as the return address, and below it, a union print bug, indicating the piece was produced by a unionized print shop. This is de rigeur for Democrat candidates. The bulk mail is from Permit No. 2146; a search turns this up this permit on mailers from IBEW, Fraiser, Fraiser, and Hickman (Jim Fraiser, the firm's founder, served as a Democratic National Committeeman), and Trinity Woods senior living community. This may just be a local direct-mail company that sends mail on behalf of a variety of commercial and political clients.

I've seen mailers in the past that "warn" voters that it's public record whether or not they vote in an election, using fear or guilt to motivate infrequent voters to go to the polls. The recipient of this postcard is a middle-aged registered independent who has only voted in presidential elections. Oklahoma Decides seems to be hoping to amplify the guilt by combining the warning with a photo of a homeless person related to the voter.

This was passed on to me by another relative of the person who received the card. I was told that the family hasn't seen Matthew in weeks, often aren't sure if he's still alive, and the family was broken-hearted to see this post card. My source said, "I do believe that's one of the most insensitive and demented things I've seen a political group do."

How many families across Oklahoma have been sent one of these custom postcards?

It looks like someone from Oklahoma Decides is going around to homeless people, asking (or paying?) them to pose with one of their campaign posters on a clipboard, getting names and addresses of relatives, and then sending personalized postcards to motivate the relatives to vote, perhaps with the hope that low-propensity independent voters will be more likely to vote for Democrats. Bizarre and cynical.

If you've received a postcard like this, please send a photograph of both sides to blog at batesline dot com.

I've started doing some digging on Oklahoma Decides, Inc. More later.