Contact Officials

How to call, write, and email your legislators, bureaucracy, and media. Details and how-to articles soon! Our team is working hard on the completion of contact info and multiple events.

Letters, postcards, emails

As with petitions, we often wonder if our emails and letters have any effect. Consider this - NO emails and NO letters allows bad legislation and policy to continue unhindered. As with all efforts, numbers are the key to forcing change! By the way - you can email or write repeatedly for effect! A good rule of thumb is once a week. Be persistent. Never give up. Encourage others to join in!

Remember that we have to stop thinking that our involvement is not needed in the policies of other states that are detrimental to our environment and/or wildlife. We need every single voice raised and united across the nation! Emails, postcards, and letters to legislators outside our districts or states gives those officials the chance to see that Americans are uniting across this nation on issues. We might choose to save our postcard contacts for our out-of-district events, particularly if we're using postcards printed specifically to address a specific issue.

Phone calls

If you're nervous at all about calling a legislator's office, remember that the people who will answer your call are just like you and me. They're just doing their job collecting contact information.

Try writing down your main points or questions. This tactic is also used for public speaking and you'll be amazed at how much easier your words will flow with notes in hand!

Please remember that you are making calls from the 'safe zone' of your own home. By saying this, we are pointing out that it can help build confidence to begin our interaction with officials from an environment in which we are completely in control. Making phones calls is not just for those who may be new to official interaction - it's an effective and necessary component of activism.

If calling outside your district or state - consider avoiding regular office hours for your call! Why? Because all elected officials will more heavily weigh contact from their own constituents. Let's leave the phone lines open for residents to get through. Those of us outside that district can call after-hours if we'd like and leave a message.

Social media contacts

The only rule to follow here is to always, always be polite. Firm? Yes. Direct? Yes. But always polite.

Contact any time of day or night - it doesn't matter. It's a good idea to include images or photos with your comment if the page allows it. Twitter always allows images, but FaceBook sometimes is configured to disallow links and/or images in comments on Pages.

Be effective!

To be the most effective, the hope is for all volunteers for public action to also engage in petition, mailing, and phone events. Each of these event options takes very little time or effort and serves as a necessary and supportive backup to public actions.

While it's expected that many who can participate in petitions, mailings, and phone events may not be able to sign up for feet-on-the-ground events, it's hoped that all who can do so...will attend.

Strongly suggest that contacting a legislator's local office should be backed up by an equal contact to their D.C. office!

Again...it's all about Numbers.

General Info

For correspondence to U.S. Senators:
Office of Senator [Name]
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
For correspondence to Senate Committees:
[Name of Committee]
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
By Telephone
Alternatively, you may phone the United States Capitol switchboard at [202) 224-3121. A switchboard operator will connect you directly with the House or Senate office you request.

If you don't know who your representative or senator is, find out at whoismyrepresentative.com. The link will open in a new tab in your browser. Always remember that your comments can be shared with ALL state legislators!

Sample letter you can use as a template to write your legislator

[Month] [Day] [Year]

The Honorable [First name] [Last name]
Street address
City, State, and Zip

RE: [state the topic or include the bill number, author and subject if you are writing to support or oppose a particular legislative bill]

Dear [Senator / Representative / Governor] [Last name]:

My name is [your first and last name] and I am a voter who resides in your district.

[State why you support or oppose the bill or other issue here.
Choose up to three of the strongest points that support your position and state them clearly. Best practice if possible, is to list your reasons as bullet points.]

[Include a brief personal story or example, if appropriate, to illustrate to your representative why the issue is important to you and how it affects you, your family and your community.]

Tell your representative how you want her or him to vote on this issue and ask for a response. [Be sure to include your name and address on both your letter and envelope.]

Sincerely,
SIGN YOUR NAME
Print your name
Street address
City, State, Zip code