How to… call your legislators
Photo: @quinoal
Why should I call my legislators?
Elected representatives in Congress and your state legislature are motivated by a range of factors. These include service to the public, the country or the state, service to political parties or leaders, and the desire to stay in office by attracting votes and campaign funding and avoiding primary challenges and bad press.
Contacting your legislators directly is one way to send a clear signal about the actions they should take that can cut against other influences.
I get it, but why should I CALL my legislators?
A phone call is personal, immediate and likely to be logged. You have a higher chance of interacting with a member of staff, and even answering machine messages are carefully catelogued. There’s a higher chance that your carefully crafted comment submitted on a web form will go to an email address that’s not staffed and won’t receive a reply. Plus an email account will never attract news headlines because it became overloaded, unlike the Congressional phone exchange. If you can call your legislature instead of or in addition to sending an email, web comment, or interacting on social media, you should.
Sorry, but… why should I call MY legislators?
Legislators represent a particular part of the country and will be responsive to voters who live in that place. Calling other legislators might get an acknowledgement but is very unlikely to result in any substantive response or action.
Ok, ok, I’ll call. But I’m confused. Which office do I call?
Members of Congress represent your local area (House of Representatives) or state (Sentate) as part of national conversations about national policies. State legislators represent your local area in state conversations about state policies. In most cases, it makes sense to contact either legislators with the ability to affect state policy or those who decide national policy, depending on which level of government usually addresses the issue.
Legislators can have multiple offices in different places, e.g., a Senator with an office in Washington DC and several offices throughout their state. For national issues, a good rule is to call the DC office first, and call the office closest to where you vote if the DC office is unresponsive. For state issues, you should call the office closest to where you vote.
DOs and DON’Ts of calling legislators
DO
Begin by stating your name and where you vote, e.g., I’m a voter from [city] and give your zip code or your address.
Explain briefly why you are calling and why the problem you raise is important. Offer your own authentic perspective whenever possible.
State clearly what you are asking your elected representative to do, which might include making a public statement about an issue, voting in certain ways, introducing a bill or amendment, pressuring their party leadership, supporting funding for a policy or program, or using legislative procedures to push forward or block actions.
Follow up. If you have social media accounts, consider posting publicly that you just called your legislators to ask for action. Reach out to friends and family who share your view and encourage them to also call.
DON’T
Harass the person answering the phone.
Spend more than a minute or two explaining why you are calling. A longer call won’t necessarily be more effective than a short one.
Be intimidated! Calling and not getting it exactly right is much better than not calling.
