Seeking U.S. presidential election material for article

Philatelic Foreword by Jay Bigalke

It happens once every four years in the United States, this year being the 60th at that interval, and again we find ourselves in a presidential election year. This year’s election is scheduled to take place Tuesday, Nov. 5.

In advance of the election, the editorial team of Scott Stamp Monthly has been exploring articles to fill the calendar of the year, and one we are contemplating is on election mail over the years.

The approach this time will be a little different. We are asking the readers of Scott Stamp Monthly to contact us if they have something interesting from any presidential election (especially contentious ones with a good story) and send us scans or let us borrow the piece to scan for potential use in the article.

This crowdsourcing approach to an article could be quite fun and could bring some items out of the woodwork that might not be the most valuable, but tell a great story.

Pictured nearby are a couple of items to spark some thoughts. One is a 2020 U.S. Postal Service postcard mailing related to voting by mail. The postcard was produced by the USPS and sent to every mailing address in the United States.

Also pictured is a “Political Campaign Mailing” tag, “PS Tag 57,” dated March 1977. Such tags are attached to postal bags containing political mail.

Mail related to absentee ballots, political fliers that were mailed, and autograph requests during an election year are some other possibilities for inclusion in the article, and there are many more.

Especially interesting would be election mail items from states, such as Oregon, that only offer voting by mail.

And even more challenging would be items maybe not seen by the public, such as official election mail with voter information from election boards and voting materials. We could redact scans that would have personal information.

Scans can be emailed to me at jbigalke@amosmedia.com. If sending actual items, mail them to my attention, Scott Stamp Monthly, Attn: Jay Bigalke, Box 4129, Sidney, OH 45365. Please include a note if you want the item returned to you, and we will be happy to send it back after scanning.

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