Is Your Elected Official Really Listening?

Oliver Wendell Jones asks: "In the past few weeks, since the Sept. 11 incident, I have tried to become much more involved with what's going on politically. It started with my sending e-mails to the members of the senate committee discussing H.R. 2500 (secure encryption) and received very polite e-mails from almost eveyone stating one of two (or sometimes both) generic messages. Not one of their e-mail responses included anything stating their feelings for or against H.R. 2500, so I have no idea if my e-mails had any effect." While I'm all for automated responses to take off the pressure in terms of response time, I'd at least expect aides to take care of these things. Autoresponses aren't enough, and when someone takes the time to write a Representative, whether it be snail mail or email, someone should respond. Of course, if they don't respond to written messages, try calling them directly and make sure an aide knows why you are calling. How many of you have tried and failed when attempting to ping your Rep on government issues that were important to you?

"The two responses I was able to receive were:

• They agreed that terrorists are bad.
• If I was a constituent of their state (i.e., I could vote for them) to please respond with my mailing address in their state (I did include my snail-mail address and I do not live in their states) and they would get back to me.

Of course, the impression I got after all of this, was that if I couldn't vote against them in an upcoming election, they didn't care about my opinion.

I also sent e-mails (and one fax) to the Representatives and Senators of my state (Indiana) on this same topic and received responses similar to those I had received from the others (terrorists are bad, mmmkay?)

Last week, in response to another request from the EFF, I sent snail-mail letters to my Senators and Representative concerning the SSSCA. This time I received a two page, snail-mail form letter reiterating that terrorists are still bad, which doesn't seem to have anything to do with the SSSCA.

Has anyone had any luck actually getting their point across to an elected official, and if so, what's the secret?" I think we can all agree that terrorists are bad, but so are bad laws that interfere with our rights. Several of these are trying to progress their way through the House and the Senate and it would be nice to know how the Representatives stand, one way or the other. How can one cut thru the rhetoric and get concrete information out of those who are supposed to be your duly elected representatives in government?

Comments

The art of writing your rep

[freeio]

I have found that if I want to influence my elected representatives, that email is probably the least effective means possible. The best way to get noticed is to have something _physical_ in their hands, and the more personal it looks, the better. A snail-mail letter works great, and a fax is nearly as good. Furthermore, if I want them to respond, they need to know that I am in their district, so the letter gets a real name, with a physical address in their district. For really important issues, I do not even use the computer printer, but hand write the letter. Whether it is mailed or faxed, that virtually always gets a response. Remember that the person reading your correspondence sees tons of it each week, and so yours needs to stand out as being both important and genuine.

You letter was read by an intern

[Kupek]

The chances of your letter actually being read by your representative are very slim. I went to high school in Fairfax county, Virignia, which is very close to Washington, DC. My senior year, I was in a political science class, and second semester, we interned. I interned at the ACLU. Quite a few people in my class interned for Senators or Representatives.

My classmates were reading the mail, sending out form letters. I don't know what the criteria was for a letter actually getting passed on, but the chances of your letter actually being read by the person you sent it to are rather slim.

Email does not work

[tkrabec]

I you want to get the attention of your Reps. USE SNAIL MAIL. Most governtment offices(elected offivials state and federal) recieve thousands and thousands of e-mails each day. You will get lost in the shuffle.

-- Tim