'Gray army' reaches millennial voters the old-fashioned way

Byby Leslie Brinkley KGO logo
Saturday, November 3, 2018
'Gray army' reaches millennial voters the old-fashioned way
Walnut Creek retirees armed with cell phones, iPads - and yes, pen and paper - are reaching out to voters one by one: at least six million so far and counting.

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (KGO) -- A gray army of senior activists in the Rossmoor retirement community in Walnut Creek, Calif., is on the move - and targeting young voters.

Like silver-haired soldiers armed with cell phones and iPads, they are tapping their way into potential voters' heads. They're texting "get out and vote" messages.

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Cindy Ware heads up the texting group.

"We are tech savvy," Ware said. "Sxity-six of us here in Rossmoor were part of the texting group that started in March. And we have texted more than six million people."

Some of the messages specifically target millennials, like viral videos that encourage young people to vote using senior spokespeople.

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Victoria Mosby, the executive director of the Contra Costa Republican Party, says they've deployed hundreds of thousands of digital ads.

Democrats of Rossmoor President Katha Hartley said she first worked on JFK's campaign. Now she's happy to be part of the "gray army."

The gray army is also deploying those with the best penmanship, since cursive counts. They've sent out 16,000 hand-written postcards.

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"I find a lot of people get the big campaign envelopes and they just toss them in the wastebasket," Campaign Coordinator Tricia Spiegel said. "But nobody's not going to read a handwritten postcard. A secret tactic of old people."

The last of the postcards are being mailed Friday, while the texting blitz though will go into overdrive this weekend.