Campaign mailers are flooding NM voters' mailboxes. But do they actually change minds?

SANTA FE — Across New Mexico, voters are receiving a steady barrage of campaign mailers in their mailboxes in the run-up to Election Day.

The colorful mailers, which often feature hard-hitting attacks that label candidates as “radical,” “extreme” or “unhinged,” are especially prolific in places with competitive legislative races, including parts of Albuquerque, Rio Rancho and Socorro.

But are the mailers actually effective?

University of New Mexico associate political science professor Jessica Feezell said research has shown campaign mailers have little to no impact on voter turnout levels, and are far less effective than in-person contact with voters.

Specifically, she cited one study that found face-to-face campaigning raised turnout rates by about 10 percentage points, while direct mail only raised turnout by 0.6 percentage points for each mailing.

“Research shows that direct mail can increase candidate familiarity early in a race, but this effect is small and dissipates quickly,” Feezell told the Journal.

But she said many campaigns still use political mailers because they are more affordable than television ads and easy to target at a specific group of voters — such as those living within a certain legislative district.

It’s also hard for most voters to avoid political mailers, as a 2021 post-election survey of Virginia voters conducted by the U.S. Postal Service and the American Association of Political Consultants found 71% of voters checked their mailboxes at least five days a week.

However, many mailers end up going straight into garbage or recycling bins.

John Shaski of Albuquerque said Saturday he gets campaign mailers at least several times a week and puts them directly into his recycling.

“It doesn’t influence my decisions at all as far as my vote,” said Shaski, who also expressed concern about the environmental impact of the proliferation of political mailers and brochures.

However, another voter interviewed Saturday outside the Bernalillo County Clerk’s Annex said she does read the mailers she gets and follows up by looking into candidates’ records further.

Overall, voters could be more likely to hold onto campaign mailers if they include useful information on when and where to vote, Feezell said.

Accountability for political accusations

Many of the most hard-hitting political mailers are not actually sent by candidates.

Instead, the mailers are sent by third-party political committees, including the legislative caucus committees run by House and Senate leaders who decide which races to target.

That can allow candidates to avoid having to take accountability over the mailers, Feezell said, even though the U.S. Constitution grants candidates and campaigns broad free speech protections regarding what they can say about their opponents.

“Third party political committees can get negative messages out to the electorate and spare the candidate the backlash,” she said.

In this year’s election cycle, examples of such third-party mailers include a depiction of Albuquerque state Senate candidate Athena Christodoulou as a crumbling Greek statue.

Other mailers highlight candidates’ criminal records and their responses on candidate questionnaires.

While some mailers stretch the facts, New Mexico election code does not explicitly bar false campaign advertisements or provide penalties for using them.

Some states that have passed such laws have faced legal challenges. In addition, the Roswell City Council in 2015 repealed a provision in municipal law — due to concerns about its constitutionally — that prohibited false campaign advertising.

Many strategies to try to sway voters

Campaign mailers are just one way candidates are trying to reach voters in this year’s election cycle, along with text messages, TV ads and phone calls.

But the mailers seem to have reached an apex in popularity, as some candidates have said the COVID-19 pandemic and other concerns have made many voters more wary of door-to-door campaigning.

The total number of political mail pieces sent nationally increased from 2.9 billion during the 2018 midterm election cycle to 3.9 billion pieces in the 2022 midterm election, according to U.S. Postal Service data.

And total spending on political mailers jumped by 44% during that four-year time frame, from $575 million in 2018 to $826 million in 2022, the Postal Service reported.

That surge in spending appears unlikely to stop any time soon, much to the exasperation of some voters.

Jordan McKee of Albuquerque said Saturday she has been receiving mailers on a daily basis in recent weeks, but has not had her views swayed by them.

“I usually just put them in the trash,” she told the Journal.