Resources

Tips on Telephoning Your Legislator

 

• To find your legislator’s phone number, enter your zip code in the "Contact Your Elected Officials box on our Home Page.
  
  
• It is likely that you will be asked to leave a message on your legislator’s voice mail, or with a staff member.
  
  
• After identifying yourself and where you live, tell the aide you would like to leave a brief message, such as: “I support / oppose
  (bill number XXX, also stating the title of the bill).”
• You will also want to state, very briefly, the reasons for your support or opposition to the bill.
  
• 
  Ask for your senator’s or representative’s position on the bill. If you know when your legislator will be voting on the bill (for example, in Finance Committee on Thursday), include that information.
  
  
• Offer to provide further written information if that would be helpful.
  
  
• Follow up with a letter or an e-mail.
  
  
• Don’t be intimidated. You are a concerned citizen, and you are talking to public servants who are there to help and represent you.

Source: Adapted from Equipping Advocates to Empower Others
(Pittsburgh, Pa.: Division for Church in Society of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America, 2001).