Contact Your Legislators - A Brief How To / by Cristy York

Laws affect all of us, but often times laws are set to control us - to divide us or to keep us within a certain socioeconomic status.

We elect members to Congress to represent us. They have to listen to us, their substituents, or else they face losing our vote.

But if we aren’t actively paying attention to how THEY vote, we can’t vote accordingly.

If there are voter suppression laws, some of us can’t register and some of us can’t vote. You can Google search who is voting for which suppression laws.

If we don’t write to the lawmakers or if we don’t call the lawmakers, then they are not hearing from us, and if they aren’t hearing from us, they do whatever they please. This is why we are where we are today - indifference.

We have to let them know how we feel!

(And just in case you’re of the opinion that voting machines are bad, write to your legislators and tell them that! Tell them “I am your substituent and I demand you get rid of those voting machines!”)

Please Click Here to Redirect to the List of Legislators

And it’s this easy:

  1. Understand the meaning of a two chamber Congress: There’s the Senate and the House of Representatives. In the Senate, each of 50 states has 2 senators each. That’s it. In the House, each state has various numbers of Reps depending on the state’s population and how the districts are drawn. FYI: Gerrymandering districts is a voter suppression tactic.

  2. Anyone can write to either of their two senators. Technically, you’re only “supposed to” write to the Representative within your district. BUT - if you want to write to other Reps or other Senators because you passionately want your voice to be heard, follow the next steps.

  3. If you want to write a Rep in a different district, find out one of the city’s or town’s names in their district by doing a simple Google search regarding that Rep’s name. Then Google search a general and public address in that Rep’s district or that Senator’s state. Some options are: town halls, recreational facilities, museums, historical sites, parks, things to do (tourist locations). Keep this tab up. Open a new tab.

  4. In the new tab, follow this link to access a Google Drive consisting of all of the Southern states’ Senators and all 14 of the Georgia state Representatives. Within it lies phone number, mail addresses, email hyperlinks, and more!

  5. Click the hyperlink. Alternatively, if their website bars against such (it will tell you), Google search “[insert name] contact info",” and the same will pop up for you! Go to the email link.

  6. Fill out your name and address, subject line, and select the topic from the dropdown. If you’d like to use a phony address, you certainly can. If you’d like the legislator to email you back, you can check a box!

  7. FYI: Some Republicans put limits on characters and you may have to delete your message. Personally, I like to draft my message in a Word or Google Doc and copy/paste. Democrats do this too, but much less frequently - at least in my experience.

  8. Click Send! YOU DID IT! Give yourself a hug, treat yourself to ice cream, and spread the word about how easy it easy!