Your elected representatives — in Congress, your state legislature, and even your city council — want to hear what you think. You might be surprised at just how important feedback from constituents is to lawmakers at every level. Often, it can make the difference on a crucial vote.

Elected officials know their job depends on the goodwill of their constituents, and sometimes a flood of letters or phone calls can persuade them to rethink their position on an issue. Other times, hearing from constituents can provide an official with political cover on a sensitive issue. Even when your representatives generally agree with you, contact them so they can count you as a supporter. Sometimes, it can make all the difference for a legislator to say “I got 100 phone calls, and 85 percent of those favored this bill.”

How to call your representative’s office

When you call most officials, except possibly city council members in fairly small cities, you won’t actually be speaking with your representative directly. You’ll be speaking with one of their aides. This means you don’t have to be nervous about calling your Senator — you’ll actually be talking to someone whose job is to listen to you. Aides are used to hearing from constituents, and they enjoy talking with you. They’re usually friendly, professional and courteous.

The aides are also busy. They want to get right to the point, so be prepared to concisely explain what you want from your representative. I’ll go into more detail about that below.

How to write a letter or email

When you’re writing a letter or email, you’re not speaking directly with a busy aide, so it can be tempting to make your letter longer and less direct. But the same people who would answer your phone call are also going through the mail. Make your letters short and to the point, and highlight the main ideas.

Ideally, your letter should be as short as possible while still including all the necessary information. Once good way to shorten your letter and add visual impact is to use bullet points to explain yourself and detail what steps you would like your representative to take. Another way to highlight your main ideas is to to underline the key points.

How to explain what you want

Whether you’re contacting your representative by phone, email, or letter, the most important thing you can do is be clear and concise. Make it clear what you want from your representative — usually, a particular vote on a particular bill. Here are a few guidelines that will help to make the contact easy and effective:

• Identify yourself as a constituent. Anybody can contact a elected official’s office, but for obvious reasons, they tend to listen more closely when that person can actually vote for or against them. Make sure you tell the aide your address, or at least the city you live in, and tell him or her that you are a constituent.
• Be clear about exactly what you want. Don’t just imply it. Tell the aide early in the phone call or letter exactly what you want. Leave the aide some sort of action you would like to see, rather than just a vague sense of how you feel. Here are just a few things you could ask for:
  • A vote for or against a particular bill
  • Research on a particular topic
  • Sponsoring a particular piece of legislation
  • A letter explaining your representative’s position on a particular issue
• Rely on key ideas. Make sure you have a good grasp of the most important ideas you want to communicate. You probably won’t have the opportunity to go into a lot of detail, so it’s important to make sure you communicate all of your points effectively.
• Be respectful. Even if you’re calling to tell your representative that you completely disagree with him or her, do it cheerfully and respectfully. Remember that, even if you think they’re wrong, your representatives are acting in what they think is your best interest. Also remember that the aide you are speaking with is not your representative — don’t take your frustration out on the aide, who gets yelled at by constituents all the time.

How to ask for a particular vote

Most often, we call our representatives to ask for them to vote for or against a particular piece of legislation. In addition to the guidelines above, here are a few more points for asking your representative to vote a certain way:

• If you’re calling about a specific bill or motion, identify it. This is particularly useful if you actually know the number of the bill. For instance, the stimulus plan that recently passed through Congress was H.R. 1. If you don’t know the number, that’s okay — just try to be as clear as possible.
• Clearly state how you would like your representative to vote. As always, don’t beat around the bush. Just say “I would like Senator Doe to vote in favor of this bill.”
• Give a (brief) explanation. Explain, in a sentence or two, why you would like them to vote that way.
• Ask to receive a response from the representative after the vote. Tell the aide you would like their office to contact you and let you know how your representative voted. Often, you’ll get a letter from their office explaining their reasoning on the vote. This is a great way to remind them that you’ll be watching the vote carefully.

Your representatives’ contact information

Here are a few  resources to help you find your representatives. If you can’t find the information here, another good place to look is usually with your Secretary of State.

Your representatives to the U.S. Congress can be found here  – House | Senate

A roster for your state legislature can be found by selecting your state from this website.

Many city governments are listed here, although you may have to look for specific information on the city council.

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