Knowing How to Ask
Knowing
What to Ask
| Knowing
Who to Ask |
Effective Letters and Phone Calls
| Following-Up
Method of
Communication
The methods of communication you chose should depend on the type of
message. A simple request to vote for a particular bill can
easily be relayed over the phone, while a more complicated
message might better be put in writing. Think also about
what works best for you in terms of time, energy, personal
preference, and money.
Volume Does Not
Necessarily Equal Effectiveness
Often very controversial issues cause a flood of communications to an
elected official. Often volume is considered when making a
decision to support or oppose something. Very simply volume
often represents votes.
This is only true to a point, becomes sometimes a
small number of thoughtful an well-argued letters can have
the same impact that hundreds of mass generated post-cards
can have. When
communicating with elected officials try to make a clear
point, in your own words, and put a personal spin on it.
Good communication gets noticed.
Always Identify
Yourself
It is a waste of time to communicate with your elected officials without
identifying yourself. Unidentified information will
generally be ignored and thrown away.
Elected officials and candidates need to know who is
trying to communicate with them in order to try to best
represent the people who live in the district, or for a
candidate to understand what is needed/wanted from voters.
Be Specific
Whatever your interested is, the best way to ensure that the
official/candidate pays attention to your issue, question,
or cause is to ask for something specific.
Prioritize Your
Requests
If you ask for too many things without making it clear what your top
priorities are, you will seem overwhelming.
To avoid asking for more than a few things at once,
make it clear what actions need the greatest amount of
attention.
Offer To Be a Resource
Elected
officials, staff and candidates are generally not experts in
all of the issue areas they cover.
Very often they seek out trusted experts from the
community. Knowing
that there's someone in the district who has expertise about
a complex issue can be exceptionally helpful. If you are an
expert in your field, let your representatives know that you
can answer any questions they may have in the future.
Please Be Polite
Treat those people with whom you are in contact, respect. If you are
unfriendly and rude, it will make the staff far less likely
to want to work with you in the future. You can be forceful
about your views and opinions without being rude.
Don’t Demonize the
Oppostion
At the very least, you should refrain from labeling those who disagree
with you as dim-witted fools.
To demonstrate that your position is based on a
careful evaluation of the facts, take the extra step and
preset the opposing argument. Then, explain why believe your
argument is stronger. You will show you have a clearly
developed opinion which will suignificantly enhance your
credibility.
Persistence Pays
Perhaps the most important thing to remember in dealing with elected
officials and candidates is that polite persistence pays.
Often, you may have to communicate more than once before
getting a response.
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