Contacting Politicians Effectively

I've heard from a few people who work in politics in state and national congresses that (non-form) physical letters and phone calls from concerned constituents can have a surprising amount of weight on the decisions of congresspeople. I imagine it's less true for form emails like this, but still probably worth a go.

I created a very similar app a year and a half ago: mailcongress.orghttps://github.com/dockyard/mail_congressIt's since come down. Here are some things you need to consider1.) Progressives won't respond well to this. I have some experience here, I spent a year working at the Democratic National Committee in DC on their Labs team. My observation is that unless you're "a name" in the progressive tech sector or have a n

Every single one of those "contacts" was people emailing their representative. Emailing your representative isn't an effective means of communication. It takes no effort to write an email. Most political offices assume an email is a form letter drafted by some special interest.Call your representative, or meet them in person when they're back in the district. If they know you're a real person, they will respond to you directly with something more than a scripte

In the US politicians take calls and written letters most seriously.It's far, far too easy to tweet or facebook something. A passing emotion with no commitment. If someone writes a letter they have put a lot of effort in and are seriously involved in the issue. They might even do something as outdated as vote or talk to their neighbors.That's the kind of behavior that is dangerous to a politician and gets noticed. So written letters and phone calls are the best way to get a polit

I like their policy of not allowing templated form emails, on the grounds that it just annoys MPs and they're more likely to reply if they're unique and personal. I also like the general philosophy of "You don't need to know which level of government representative you need to talk to, we'll find all of them and try to help you decide".To agree with another poster on this thread, in the UK there's also the big problem with MPs getting too many emails to sort

In my experience, no, it really does not. Go ahead and try it anyway, though, you may find the process enlightening. There's nothing quite like writing a careful and reasoned argument only to receive an instant canned response that patronizingly talks down to you and simultaneously supports all possible views on an issue.I've contacted my state and national representatives dozens of times over the years and have found that methods of contact seems to get noticed by the staffers (w

TellMyPoliticianViaHandWrittenLetter.com would be more effective in my experience. Politicians might not feel guilty ignoring an email/e-communication, but a hand written letter, personally stamped is harder to ignore. A state of Maryland politician in a town hall meeting I went to made this point clear during our towns last NIMBY fight.

You're correct in phone calls and letters counting way more than e-mails or online comments. Especially if the comment is thoughtful. If the issue is hot button, it won't do anything. But for marginal issues like these, a couple calls can easily swing votes.

the article is more-or-less fine, but the headline is ridiculous> one-man ... campaignit's a website that drafts an email for you, and then you send it yourself. it's an organizational tool, yes, but broad involvement is sorta the point> spam campaigngross mischaracterization, citizens sending emails to their govt representative for legitimate purposes - making their political opinion known to the politician - is not spam under any sane definition

I suppose it's common knowledge now, but a lot of people seem to think a phone call will get more attention then an email in political scenarios.