Back in 2022, I received a deluge of campaign mail from then-New York gubernatorial candidate Harry Wilson, who was in the midst of a very expensive unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination. Despite the fact that the presidential election is much more expensive and high profile than New York gubernatorial primaries, I have not received any presidential campaign mail at all in 2024. This is likely because New York has not been competitive in a presidential election since 1988 (by “competitive” I mean the final result being reasonably in doubt). Moreover, New York’s Senate race is also not competitive, and I do not live in a district with a competitive congressional or state legislature race.
Of course, there is more mail out there than campaign mail. The New York City Board of Elections sends voter guides most election cycles. On April 1, 2024, I wrote about and showed readers a presidential primary voter guide because it was emblazoned with a pigeon mascot. While that was a very good pigeon mascot, I complained that the gray pigeon did not have enough contrast against the dark blue background of the mailer. But there was one complaint I could have made but did not because I had not thought of it: The pigeon was not wearing a hat. You may ask: Why ever would a pigeon wear a hat? I could respond by telling you the story of when my distinguished New Leaf Journal colleague Victor V. Gurbo tried to capture a string-encumbered pigeon by throwing his hat at it, but that is a story for another day. (Note that story predates our 2023 pigeon rescue story by a decade.) Let us return to the election pigeon.
I received a NYC Board of Elections mailer in October with information about early voting and voting by mail at the general election. It was similarly designed to the mailer I received in March – right down to including a pigeon. But there was something different about this pigeon.
The pigeon wears an Uncle Sam hat and matching bow-tie.
The pigeon is so much better with an Uncle Sam hat. I approve. While the NYC BOE design team did not totally fix the contrast issue I highlighted in my April article (that was not my first contrast-related design complaint), it did make some advances in that area. Firstly, the pigeon is much bigger this time. Secondly, the hat and bow-tie do have good contrast with the background of the mailer.
Pigeon steps to goose strides, or something like that.
A much smaller version of the pigeon features on the inside of the mailer against a more favorable, for its coloration, white background.
While I appreciate the design of the mailer, I did not vote early or by mail. I saw no reason to do the former and the only way I would vote by mail is if I could opt for a carrier pigeon delivery option.
