Campaign literature: the piece a voter actually reads

Yard signs vs. campaign literature: the honest hierarchy

A yard sign does one job well: it puts your name and the office you are seeking in front of the same people over and over until the name stops sounding unfamiliar. That is name recognition, and it is worth buying. But be honest about the ceiling. As a rule of thumb, a sign gets a second or two from a moving car and has room for about half a dozen words — our sign viewing distance calculator works the legibility side of that. A sign cannot make an argument. It cannot tell a voter what you would do in the seat, why you filed, or what you would leave alone.

Literature is where the message lives. It is the only thing in a campaign print budget that a voter holds, reads at their own pace, and sometimes leaves on the kitchen counter until the ballot arrives. The model worth carrying: signs buy familiarity, literature buys persuasion, conversations buy votes. Most first-time campaigns get the order backwards. A full run of election yard signs goes in the ground in July, and somebody starts thinking about a push card in late September, by which point the design-and-print window has gotten uncomfortable. Both matter. Only one can make an argument.

What is a push card (palm card)?

A push card, most people say palm card, is a small double-sided card a volunteer hands to a voter at a door, a parade, or a fair booth. The design brief is in the name. It has to fit a palm or a shirt pocket without being folded, because a piece that gets folded gets thrown away. Everything on it earns its place or comes off.

• Your name and the office

  The biggest type on the front. If a voter remembers nothing else, they should leave with a name and a race.

• The election date

  Which election, and the date. Obvious to you because you think about it hourly. Not obvious to a voter with a job and three kids.

• One photograph

  A single clear headshot. People hold onto a face longer than a slogan, and it makes the next door easier for the volunteer carrying it.

• Three things you stand for

  Three. Not eight. A card with eight priorities reads as a card with none, because the eye skims, snags on the line it disagrees with, and stops.

• A way to reach you

  A website, and whatever contact method somebody will actually answer.

• The disclaimer

  Minnesota requires one on campaign material, and push cards are campaign material. See below.

Palm card size: what campaigns actually print

There is no official palm card size. It is a use, not a spec, which is why the internet gives you five answers. Campaigns print a short list of formats, and the right one gets decided by the pocket, not the layout.

• 4 x 9 in — the classic

  Same footprint as a rack card. Long and narrow, slides into a shirt pocket, holds a photo plus three points without crowding. What most people mean by palm card.

• 4 x 6 in — the crossover

  Wider and easier to lay out, and it doubles as a mailer later. If you will reuse the design as a postcard, start here.

• 3.5 x 8.5 in — the tight one

  Cheaper per piece at volume, but the layout cramps fast once a photo goes on.

• 5.5 x 8.5 in — walk piece territory

  A half sheet. Too big for a pocket, right for a door. A piece you leave, not one you hand over.

Skip the business card-size push card. There is no room to say anything, and it carries a trap: Minnesota's disclaimer exemption for business cards covers a candidate's actual business card, not a push card wearing the same dimensions. Need more room? The honest step up is a folded brochure, or a full-page flyer for events and fundraisers. Not a smaller card.

Political door hangers — and why you cannot use the mailbox

Most doors, most of the time, nobody answers. That is the real condition of canvassing, and it is why the door hanger exists. A door hanger is engineered for the one place a returning resident cannot miss: the knob, at eye level, in the way of the hand that opens the door.

Compare the common alternative, a palm card wedged in the screen door or tucked under the mat. It falls out. It rains. The wind takes it into the neighbor's hostas. And when it survives, it reads as junk that blew in rather than as something a person walked up and left.

Then there is the rule that catches every first-time campaign: under federal postal rules, a mailbox is reserved for material that went through the mail with postage on it — so your literature does not go in the box, and it does not go wedged in the box's door. That applies no matter how well-meaning the volunteer is. It is not a local courtesy. Confirm the details with USPS before you brief a walk team. If you want a piece in the mailbox, it goes through the mail — covered in our political direct mail guide. For your walk team the rule is simply knob, not box.

The walk piece: literature drop vs. a real conversation

A walk piece is the bigger cousin of the push card, usually a half sheet or a folded piece, and it exists because a real conversation earns more room. When a voter opens the door and talks with you for ninety seconds, the piece you hand them is the receipt for that conversation. It can hold a paragraph, because they now have a reason to read one.

The distinction worth being honest about: a literature drop is not canvassing. It is a delivery. Dropping four hundred hangers moves paper. It does not move anyone in particular, and it produces no data, because nobody learns who is with you, who is undecided, and who wants a sign in their yard. A live conversation does all three. Plan the drop as what it is: the thing you do at the doors where nobody was home, so the trip was not wasted.

Which is why most campaigns carry two pieces. A pocket push card for the conversations, a hanger for the empty doors. Same face, same three points, same disclaimer, different jobs, printed in one run so the brand holds together. See our candidate branding guide if your pieces do not yet look related.

The three-second door: designing a piece that gets read

Here is the constraint nobody plans for. Your push card gets read standing up, one-handed, by somebody holding a dog, a toddler, or a phone, who did not ask for it. You get about three seconds on the front side — that is the working rule of thumb, long enough for a face, a name, an office, and a date. That is the entire front. Everything else goes on the back, where it will be read only by people already inclined to like you. Which is fine. That is who the back is for.

So build the front for the doorstep and the back for the kitchen counter. Type big enough to read at arm's length without squinting. High contrast, dark on light or the reverse, and never type sitting on a busy photo. Generous margins, because a crowded card reads as a nervous card. And ruthless editing, because every line you add makes every other line smaller and less likely to be read.

One practical test: hand a proof to somebody who does not know your race, give them three seconds, then ask what office you are running for. If they cannot say, the card is not done. Our design team lays these out to survive that test.

The disclaimer on campaign literature (and a 2026 change)

Push cards, door hangers, walk pieces, and mailers are all campaign material under Minnesota law, and campaign material generally has to carry a disclaimer. The exemption people reach for, the one for business cards, covers a candidate's actual business card, not a push card printed at that size. Do not plan around it.

The general statutory form, as amended in 2026, runs along the lines of "Prepared and paid for by (name of entity), (address)", where the address may be a mailing address, an actively monitored email address, or a website if that site itself shows a mailing or email address. Independent expenditure material uses a different form and narrower address options. Our campaign disclaimer guide walks the forms, and the disclaimer generator builds the wording.

The part that will surprise your designer: a 2026 amendment, in force since May 2026, requires the disclaimer on written communications other than outdoor signs to be set in 8-point type or larger, in black text or high-contrast color text, on a white background. Read plainly, that puts a very common move — reversing a small disclaimer out in white across a dark navy back panel — on shaky ground. Cheap to fix at design time. Expensive once five thousand cards are boxed.

This is not legal advice. We print what you approve; the disclaimer is your call and your counsel's. Note that the Revisor's statute page currently shows pre-2026 text behind a banner, and the Secretary of State's campaign manual predates the change. Verify at cfb.mn.gov and revisor.mn.gov before you print. Rules change.

What to print for your volunteers, not your voters

Every campaign prints for voters and forgets to print for the people doing the work. The volunteer packet is the cheapest print you will buy, and it decides whether a Saturday morning produces data or just produces walking.

• Walk lists

  One page per turf, addresses in walking order, with a column to mark the result at each door. Printed, not on a phone, because phones die and a clipboard works in the rain.

• Tally and result sheets

  Somewhere to record who was home, who was supportive, who wants a sign, and who asked a question needing follow-up. If it is not written down at the door, it did not happen.

• Sign-up and pledge forms

  Carbonless forms earn their keep. The volunteer tears off a copy for the supporter and the campaign keeps the original, so a yard sign request does not evaporate between the door and the office.

• A one-page volunteer brief

  The script, the three points, what to do at an unfriendly door, and who to call. New volunteers are nervous; a page in the hand fixes most of it.

Print these in the same order as your literature. One job, one proof, one delivery, and the fair booth sign-up sheet is not what you want to be photocopying at ten at night.

How many pieces to print: the quantity math

Quantity is a math problem, and the math is not the number of voters. It is doors times attempts. Take the households your walk universe actually covers, multiply by the number of passes you intend to make, and add a real spare margin, because volunteers lose cards, weather ruins cards, and a fair booth eats them faster than any door. Our free voter contact calculator works the other side of it: how many attempts your volunteer hours can actually deliver before the polls close.

Then split the count by piece. Pocket push cards for conversations and events, hangers for the empty doors, and the empty doors will be the bigger number. Print them together. Two runs of a thousand cost meaningfully more per piece than one run of two thousand, and the second run always arrives later than you want.

For how this fits against everything else you have to buy, read our campaign print budget guide, and see political campaigns for what we do for candidates and committees across Wright County and the West Metro. We design campaign literature here in Buffalo and produce it with trusted print partners. When you know your universe, request a free quote and we will size the run to the walk plan.

Frequently asked questions

• What size is a palm card?

  There is no official size — palm card describes a use, not a spec. The most common is 4 by 9 inches, the same footprint as a rack card, which slides into a shirt pocket and still holds a photo and three points. 4 by 6 inches is the other common pick, and it doubles as a postcard mailer later.

• Do push cards need a disclaimer in Minnesota?

  Generally yes. Push cards are campaign material, and Minnesota law requires a disclaimer on campaign material. The business card exemption covers a candidate's actual business card, not a push card printed at that size. Narrow exemptions exist, including for people not required to register or report, so confirm your own situation at cfb.mn.gov or with your counsel.

• Can I leave campaign literature in a mailbox?

  Under federal postal rules, a mailbox is reserved for material that went through the mail with postage on it — so your literature does not go in the box, and it does not go wedged in the box's door. That applies no matter how well-meaning the volunteer is. Use the doorknob instead, or send the piece as actual mail. Confirm the details with USPS before you brief a walk team.

• What is the difference between a push card and a walk piece?

  Size and purpose. A push card is pocket-size, often around 4 by 9 inches, and is handed to a voter during a conversation at a door, parade, or booth. A walk piece is bigger, often a half sheet, with room for a paragraph. Many campaigns carry a push card for conversations and a door hanger for doors where nobody answers.

• How many pieces of campaign literature should I print?

  Start from doors times attempts, not the number of voters. Multiply the households in your walk universe by the number of passes you plan to make, then add a spare margin for lost, weathered, and booth-handed pieces. One larger run costs less per piece than two small ones, and the second run always arrives later than you want.