Palm cards are the workhorse of every ground campaign. Small enough to slip in a mailbox, cheap enough to hand out by the thousand, and the last thing a voter touches before they walk into the polls. But most first-time candidates print a cluttered card that gets thrown away at the door. The winning ones follow a formula. Here it is.

What a Palm Card Is Actually For

One job: to make the voter remember your name and where you are on the ballot. Not to explain your policy platform. Not to list every endorsement. The voter has three seconds - front, back, into the pocket or the trash. Design accordingly.

The Front: Name, Face, Race

The front of the palm card has room for exactly four things. If you're tempted to add a fifth, take one away instead.

• Your name - the biggest element on the card. Full name, the way it appears on the ballot.
• Your photo - head and shoulders, looking at the camera, professional but not stiff. Voters remember faces before names.
• The office you're running for - "For City Commission, Seat 3" - exactly as printed on the ballot.
• One three-word tagline - "A New Voice," "Experience That Works," "Neighbors First." Not a paragraph. Three words.

Colors match your campaign yard signs exactly. The voter should see the palm card and instantly recognize the sign in the neighbor's lawn.

The Back: Three Reasons and a Date

The back is where the actual persuasion happens - and where most cards go wrong. Keep it to four elements.

• Three bullet points - the three things you'll do in office. Concrete, not slogans. "Fix the flooding on Main Street" beats "Modernize infrastructure."
• Endorsement or credential line - one line. "Endorsed by the Firefighters." "22 years teaching in our schools." One.
• Voting information - Election Day date, early voting dates, and how to find their polling place. This is the one thing voters actually reference the card for.
• Website and QR code - small. Voters who want more will scan.

What Not to Put on a Palm Card

• Your full biography. Save it for the website.
• A dense policy platform. If you need a paragraph, cut until you have a bullet.
• More than one photo. Two photos look amateur.
• Long lists of endorsers. Pick your best two and stop.
• Multiple typefaces. One heading font, one body font. Done.

Where the Palm Card Lives in Your Campaign

Palm cards do their heaviest work at three moments: on canvassing shifts (one card per door), at early voting sites (one per voter approaching the polls, outside the buffer zone), and in supporter hand-offs at rallies and events. Pair the palm card with a campaign sticker or decal - the sticker goes on the water bottle, the palm card goes home in the pocket.

At events, back the table with a retractable banner in the same colors as the palm card so voters connect the two visually before they even pick up the card.

Print Specs That Work

• Size: 4x6 or 4x9 - small enough for a pocket, big enough for a photo.
• Stock: 14PT card, matte or satin coating. Glossy fingerprints look cheap under fluorescent lights.
• Print: full color, both sides.
• Quantity: at least one card per door you plan to knock, plus 20% for events and early voting.