The push to encourage Pennsylvanians to vote by mail for the upcoming election is on for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee. 

A joint release from the PA Democratic Party and the DNC announced that they are partnering to launch a texting campaign aimed at contacting over 400,000 voters to encourage them to fill out and return an application to vote by mail in the upcoming state primary and presidential election. Hundreds of volunteers will participate in this joint effort. 

“Democrats have built a powerful organizing infrastructure in Pennsylvania, and this texting campaign is one example of the dynamic and creative tactics we’re deploying to ensure Donald Trump is a one-term president,” said David Bergstein, DNC Battleground State Communications Director. “We’ve changed some of our methods in response to coronavirus, but programs like these will ensure we achieve our underlying objective: hold Trump accountable for his broken promises and help Pennsylvania Democrats win victories at every level of the ballot.” 

A statement from the PA Democratic Party echoed this sentiment and lauded election reforms signed into law by Gov. Tom Wolf in 2019. 

“Thanks to Governor Wolf’s leadership, Pennsylvanians can now vote from the safety of their homes in the upcoming primary election on June 2 and in November,” said Sinceré Harris, Pennsylvania Democratic Party Executive Director. “This campaign will make sure that voters in every corner of the commonwealth know exactly how to make their voices heard. We’re taking nothing for granted and we’ll continue to do everything we can to make sure Pennsylvania goes back to blue.”  

In response to this new joint effort, the Republican National Committee and Trump campaign pointed to their ramped up digital effort in the keystone state when they made the switch to 100% online activities last month. 

“The RNC and the Trump campaign made the switch to 100% online activities in 24 hours in mid-March,” said RNC Spokesperson Michael Joyce. “Please let us know when the Democrats can match our 21st century virtual ground game, because it clearly won’t be anytime soon.” 

The DNC and PA Democratic Party described the expansion of vote-by-mail and no-excuse absentee voting as “more important than ever” during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

This is not the first joint effort from the DNC and PA Democratic Party in 2020 as well. In late January, the DNC bought “tens of millions of cell phone numbers across the country, including Pennsylvania, to improve voter contact and ensure Democratic campaigns have the best data infrastructure possible.”