Contacting Officials: Secondary Methods

Faxes

When you log on to the website, you will see a blue prompt, “Fax your congressperson, senator, or governor”. Click on your choice. The next screen will prompt you for your name, email, and phone number. The receiver’s information will already be loaded. Scroll down and find the text box. Add your succinct and clear message, and be sure to state whether or not you are a constituent. A confirmation code is provided, and you will need to copy that into the required box. Scroll down a bit more and hit “Send Free Fax Now”. An email will be sent to you, and you must click on the URL provided to complete the process. (image from faxzero.com)

Postcards

Postcards are a quick and easy way to send a message to your elected officials. Amazon and Etsy have bulk postcards that you can utilize for this purpose. Search for “political postcards” and you will find numerous ones to choose from. Stock up on those and postcard stamps so you are ready when issues or events prompt you to write.

As stated previously, be succinct, be clear, and state whether or not you are a constituent. Refer to our website resources for help finding your legislators at the state and federal levels. 

Letters

If you have the time and wish to write a letter, be sure to still follow the basics: that you are a constituent, what issue are you concerned about and why, what action do you want your elected to do, and ask for a response from the elected to your letter. Personal impact stories do garner more attention and help officials see the consequences of existing or proposed legislation. 

Emails

There are a few organizations that provide assistance in helping folks generate emails to their elected officials. Many rely on form emails and only need your name, email, and address. Once you enter, the email is sent for you. While those have a place in Flooding the Zone strategy, we will focus on three ways to do personalized emails, which get more attention by staffers. 

Official Email Accounts of Electeds

Many officials have email accounts listed on their official websites. The process varies a bit from account to account, but typically you will be asked for the usual: your name, address, phone, email, and your message. 

ResistBot

To start, text Resist to 50409 to get started. You will be prompted to answer a few demographic questions. Sometimes, there is a delay between text responses as your data is entered. Eventually, you will be prompted to choose what you want to do from a list. For now, start with Write. You will then be prompted to Select Your Target. Tap on your choice and Send. You are ready to start your message. Enter your message- you can do that in a series of texts or just one text. When you are finished, send Done in a text by itself. In a few seconds, you will see your message generated and will be asked if it looks okay. Reply SEND. Next, you will be asked for a subject line. This is an important step because staffers will sort communications by issue. You’ll be asked if you want your letter to be public or not. Enter your choice. Lastly, you will be asked whether you want your letter sent by email (free) or by USPS (cost). Choose Email and then you will be sent confirmation that your letter was sent to those you requested. You will also see statistics from the last 24 hours on letters sent. ResistBot will ask for donations, etc. Ignore or contribute. 

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