Walk into the Starbucks at Graham Plaza in Scotts Valley on a Friday morning, and you’ll be met with more than just mochas and macchiatos.
Each Friday, members of the PerSisters, an all-female grassroots letter-writing campaign group, gather to handwrite 200-250 postcards to voters all around the country. Whether it’s a contest for the Wisconsin Supreme Court or a close senate race in Michigan, the PerSisters believe in getting out the vote, even if it’s far and away from the political landscape of California.
Donna Maurillo has been involved with the team for eight years; each week, she communicates with the 20-30 volunteers who give their time, treasure and talent to this effort around supporting candidates that align with the group’s political belief system (hint: they’re not backing the current administration). The age range for members of the PerSisters’ postcard-writing campaign is 18 to 95 years old.
After the 2016 election, 79-year-old Maurillo and other like-minded voters wanted to use their voices for good, so she and some friends began writing letters to the White House.
“We didn’t know if they were going to end up on the president’s desk or in the shredder,” recalled Maurillo.
She then heard about a Georgia-based grassroots group called Postcards to Voters (PtV), and the local idea blossomed into something bigger than Maurillo had envisioned. PtV provides information on upcoming elections around the country, along with a script that writers use on each handwritten postcard and the mailing addresses of registered Democratic voters in the corresponding district.
“We always write in favor of a candidate, never against the opposition. We outline the bullet points in the script, highlight the points we think are important, keep the postcard short and send it off with postage that our group pays for,” Maurillo said. “We write about house, senate and state elections, and we also remind people to register to vote.”
For instance, in the state of Florida, voters have to re-register every two years to continue to receive ballots via mail.
“We’ll send them a postcard letting them know it’s time to re-up their registration to ensure their voices are heard,” Maurillo said.
In the 2024 presidential election, about one third of registered voters didn’t go to the polls—yet another reason Maurillo believes in the team’s mission, which branches out beyond state races.
“We wrote to Costco and let them know we supported their efforts to uphold Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies,” Maurillo said. The rise of DEI has been suppressed by some companies and state legislators in recent months, most notably after the current administration ascended to the Oval Office.
The Scotts Valley-based team is just one of the locations participating in PtV; according to their website, Postcards to Voters has over 75,000 volunteers, and every state is represented in the voter outreach mission. Postcards to Voters estimates their members have sent nearly 8 million pieces of mail since 2017.
For Marge Laxson, contributing to this effort is as meaningful as attending a march or a protest—all of which she has done in her 95 years.
“People sit at home, watching the television and wondering what they can do about what’s happening in our country,” Laxson said. “Writing postcards is an easy way to participate in our democracy, and it’s important for people to step up. We have to fight this somehow, and we have to get our thoughts out. You feel like you’re accomplishing something.”
Laxson, who has been part of the grassroots effort for the past two years, writes 12-15 cards at each session; she estimates that she’s authored more than 1,100 cards since she joined her fellow PerSisters.
“I’ve been political my whole life, and I think it’s important that we look at what’s going on close to home, not just in Washington, D.C.,” Laxson said.
She recalled that growing up as a young woman, when there were family gatherings, the women would sit in the kitchen talking about food and housekeeping, while the men would speak about politics.
“I was always much more interested in what the men were discussing, because I wanted to know what was going on out in that world,” Laxson said. “It’s so important to be educated and aware.”
Cindy Frobish, 75, has been participating with the PerSisters for about a month.
“I was feeling so frustrated about our current political climate, so when I found out about this group, it was a great opportunity to connect with like-minded people who are doing something positive for our country,” said Frobish, who has been to a few previous political rallies, but sees this group as a different outlet. “Something about this work really hits home for me. Whether the candidates we are backing in our postcards win or not, it’s really important for people to get out and vote.”
Frobish added that the messages on the current rounds of postcards with their scripts are a little more milquetoast than the ones addressed to the current occupant of the White House.
“When we were writing directly to President Trump, we were encouraged to use our own words, and that felt really good,” Frobish said with a laugh.
For now, the group will continue to meet at the Starbucks in Graham Plaza from 10am to noon, but when the weather turns nicer, the PerSisters will move to Cruise Coffee’s outdoor tables.
“We always purchase items from the businesses that are giving us our space, and we’re grateful for their support,” Maurillo said.
l Get paid over $110 per hour working from home. l never thought I’d be able to do it but my buddy makes over $22991 a m0nth doing this and she convinced me to try. The p0ssibility with this is endless.,,
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