More than ten thousand ballots have been returned in the last two days in the special election in Florida’s 13th Congressional District. This kind of returned-ballot surge at this point in a race has not been seen before in Pinellas elections, leading me to wonder why so many ballots have been returned at this point in the campaign.
The answer?
Jeb Bush. He and free postage — that’s what’s driving the surge in returned ballots.
According to a consultant familiar with the direct-mail strategy of David Jolly’s campaign, Republican “super voters” — those Republicans who have voted in three or four of the last four elections — who have yet to vote are receiving a letter (shown below) from former Gov. Jeb Bush urging them to return their ballot. Enclosed with Bush’s letter is a stamp for voters to use when mailing their ballot to the Supervisor of Elections.
“I’m writing to you today to help make the choice even easier – by providing postage to return your mail ballot,” Bush writes in the letter.
The letter from Bush — and the free stamps — appear to be working. The gap between the number of returned ballots by Republicans and those by Democrats has increased by more than 1,000 in just the last two days.
Here’s the mail package from Bush:
