Printers Reap Election Benefits

This month's national and local elections fueled a last-minute spike in print volume. Presses coast to coast were turning out posters, brochures and mailers. An avalanche of ballots—frequently "rush" orders as legal challenges delayed approval of final candidate lists—kept some print firms operating 24/7. Political camps mailed an estimated 5.8 billion pieces in presidential and Congressional races. A bump in twelfth-hour mailers—unrestricted by Federal Election Commission limits that apply to television—saw 23 million pieces sent by Democrats alone in just 12 swing states during the final three weeks. By August, the campaign to re-elect President Bush already had spent a reported $32 million on direct marketing—though the figure includes postage, list usage and media, in addition to print.

Stephen Kodey, PIA's manager of economics, reports that in typical presidential election years, print demand rises 2%. Consolidated Graphics, Houston, says 3% of its year-over-year quarterly revenue growth came from election-related work. For some printers, the results are more substantive. C&D Printing, Denver, reports that it booked more than $10,000 last month for signage, graphics and other campaign materials for U.S. Senate candidate Ken Salazar. The firm says that, on average, its sales spike 50% during elections, a niche it has pursued for 25 years.

For Fidlar Printing, Davenport, IA, the election "returns" are equally dramatic, nearly doubling annual revenues to $10 million in a presidential year. The company's Election Division designs touch-screen voting stations and supplies printing for county governments. Since August, Fidlar produced some 13 million pieces of election-related material—and added 20 temporary employees to its full-time workforce of 30 to get it all done.

The Caxton Printers, Caldwell, ID, printed 250,000 election ballots and related documents for 28 of Idaho's 44 counties this year. Despite the highly publicized adoption of electronic voting systems, some estimates projected that 25% of votes nationwide were cast as paper absentee ballots.