Writings: Labels Contact Your Elected Officials Easily (U.S.) Sample 811rv Days Diabetes Algae		How to Easily Contact Your Elected Officials (in the U.S.) Make your voice heard, in a jiffy! It's easier and quicker than you'd think. With these tips, you'll be able to effectively have your opinion count too. WHY: From time to time you may be asked or be inclined to contact your elected officials to give them feedback and more importantly urge them to support or oppose legislative actions on issues important to you. Calling is considered one of the most powerful ways to show your commitment to a cause and have your voice heard by your elected officials—even more than email, snail mail, or social media. Alternatively, if you have questions about the status of a certain legislative action, or need help with a casework issue, you can often get info this way too. WHO: You'll have the most clout with those you have the power to re-elect, so try to stick to those elected to cover where you live, rather than other places. Of course, if you have family or other compelling reasons to call about issues in another district or state, and have the time and inclination, it wouldn't hurt to call about that too. And, make sure that you're calling the correct office for the legislation you are concerned about (i.e. if the US House of Representatives is going to be voting on something, you don't want to call your local county council about it, or vice versa). USA.gov has a handy website that lists links to look up contact information for various federal, state, and local elected officials and have links to contact them with questions if you want. Below is my list which, upon my writing of this, should get you directly to where you can search for your elected peeps. If any of the links are changed, let me know so I can update them here. The numbers in parentheses indicate how many you have the ability to elect/re-elect. If the contact page for your elected official (named Y for this example) doesn't include a phone number, do a web search for "call Y" and you will often find it better that way than on their site. Also, if your official's contact information includes contact info for both DC and something more local, choose the more local office during their business hours. Federal Elected Officials U.S. President (1): Write or call Contact page with online email form Members of U.S. Congress: U.S. Senators (2): Look up contact names and information by state. U.S. House Representative (1): Look up contact name and information by zip code. If these links don't yield anything useful enough, you can also try calling the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121. State Elected Officials State Governor (1): Look up your governor's website contact page by state. State Legislators (2, except Nebraska which is 1): What their offices are called varies per state. Look up the website for your legislators and their contact info by entering in your address. Local Elected Officials You may need to do a web search for the contact information for your city and county elected officials, depending on how well the navigation of the searches listed below work for your area. This will give you a good starting point. Mayor (1): Look up your mayor's contact info by entering in one or more of the following: mayor name, city, or state. County Information (varies): Head of the executive branch of your county government may be either elected or appointed official, depending on your county. Look up contact info of your county officials and other county information by county name, zip code or map. Other Local Government Officials: Look up contact info for your city, county, and town officials by picking your state to start with, then navigating from there. WHAT: Realize that you're probably not going to be talking directly to your official, but to someone either hired or volunteering to answer the calls and log the information. Either way, it's a good idea to keep it succinct and to the point so that you can get on with your life knowing you did something, and they can get on to answering more calls. The more calls they can get, the more they will listen, and the more difficult it is for other details to be passed on logistically. You both may be passionate about this issue, however going into the details of how you feel and why are not going to be able to be passed on, nor will they be helpful... whether you support or oppose what's going on. On the other hand, remember to be patient and kind, they may not have every answer but they will do their best to help you. Here's what to include: Your name Your district (that they serve) - this can be your city, state, and zip code The name and number of the legislation you are calling about Your question or request (skip the why, stick to just the what) Whether you need a response (best to skip a response if possible) Example Call Script 1: Requests that the elected official votes a certain way. [copy and customize before calling to be completely ready] "Hello, my name is [insert: Your Name]. I'm a constituent from [insert: Your City and State], zip code [insert: Your Zip Code]. I don't need a response. I am (pick either: opposed to/in favor of) the (pick either: repeal of / legislation for) the [insert: Name of Act (or bill, etc) and Identifying Number if any] and I strongly encourage the [insert: Name of Elected Official's Title] to please (pick either: oppose / support) any type of (pick either: repeal of / legislation for) this issue. Thank you for your hard work, and all you all do!" Example Call Script 2: Asks about the status of legislation and/or asks how the elected official intends to vote. [copy and customize before calling to be completely ready] "Hello, my name is [insert: Your Name]. I'm a constituent from [insert: Your City and State], zip code [insert: Your Zip Code]. First, I'd like to thank you for your hard work, and all you all do. Today I am calling about the [insert: Name of Act (or bill, etc) and Identifying Number if any]. What is the status on this legislation, and how does the [insert: Name of Elected Official's Title] plan to vote on this issue?" This is a good way to help decide whether you want to re-elect someone when an election is coming up perhaps after the election is to happen. WHERE: Wherever you want! I like to use my phone contacts to put in each name and their office as well as all the contact info and any notes. Then I just search my contacts by their name, position, or office to contact them. It's also easy to update the names and any contact info changes after that. A good time to update is right after an election. MORE: Speaking of elections... make sure to make informed votes and vote at every opportunity you are given. In the future I'll be doing another blog post about not only how to register, but how to get informed easily as well, and will post a link to it here when I do. Okay, that should do it. Let me know if you think I skipped something important and if I agree that it fits with this article, I'll add it. Also, I'll update the reference info here with better links if/when I find out about them. Enjoy and Happy Calling To All! :) Next -- >>>