It is not uncommon in the Open Forum for someone to say that writing letters to elected officials makes no difference. Having seen an number of mail-room operations run by state and federal elected officials, I beg to differ.
Every phone call, fax, e-mail, and letter makes a difference. Virtually all state and federal public officials have staff members that tabulate citizen input. Most can tell you on any given day how many items came in and what they are talking about. For example, a U.S. Representative may be told that 10,000 people contacted the office last week (probably a low number). X number of issues were addressed. For each issue, the percent in favor and percent opposed is reported. In many offices, sample letters or messages will be selected and placed in the hands of the elected official to read.
Elected officials are influenced by many factors, including their own core convictions, when developing policies or casting their votes. One of the factors is "What are the people saying?"
With thousands of people contacting their offices each week, it is physically impossible for any state governor, U.S. Representative or U.S. Senator to personally read all the mail. But, at the very least, your message will move the "What are the people saying?" ticker one tick in one direction or another.
How you communicate is also important. Elected officials weight message types differently. A message from a constituient in the Senator's or Representatives jurisdiction far outweighs 1,000 messages coming from people who cannot vote for the official. That's why it is important to include your name and address in anything you send. If the staff person knows you are a voter, your letter will be ranked high.
By the way, they do indeed know if you are a voter or not. These days, politicians maintain voter files. They purchase your voting record from state agencies and combine it with consumer information about you purchased from other sources. They don't know who you voted for, but can easily determine if you voted or not, how often, and in what elections (president, state governor, school board, etc.) Input from active voters is respected more than input from non voters.
E-mails are considered nearly worthless. Hand written letters are heavily weighted. 100 hand written letters saying they support issue X will easily trump 10,000 e-mails sent in opposition to issue X. That's because politicians know the well-funded interest groups can generate thousands of e-mails, faxes, and even citizen phone calls from their members. But a hand-written letter takes more thought and effort. It's more real, and more likely to be from a "real" citizen who is weiging in on the issue. As one U.S. Representave once told me, "You don't have to be sober to send an e-mail."
It should tell you something that the well-funded and well-organized interest groups, and the highly-skilled lobbyists in their employ, are keen to generate citizen letters from their membership bases. That's because elected officials really do pay attention to the citizen imput flowing into their mail rooms.
If you write, do it the old fashioned way. A one-page, hand-written letter that is stamped and not run through a postage meter ranks you above all others and puts you at the top of the reading pile.
Every phone call, fax, e-mail, and letter makes a difference. Virtually all state and federal public officials have staff members that tabulate citizen input. Most can tell you on any given day how many items came in and what they are talking about. For example, a U.S. Representative may be told that 10,000 people contacted the office last week (probably a low number). X number of issues were addressed. For each issue, the percent in favor and percent opposed is reported. In many offices, sample letters or messages will be selected and placed in the hands of the elected official to read.
Elected officials are influenced by many factors, including their own core convictions, when developing policies or casting their votes. One of the factors is "What are the people saying?"
With thousands of people contacting their offices each week, it is physically impossible for any state governor, U.S. Representative or U.S. Senator to personally read all the mail. But, at the very least, your message will move the "What are the people saying?" ticker one tick in one direction or another.
How you communicate is also important. Elected officials weight message types differently. A message from a constituient in the Senator's or Representatives jurisdiction far outweighs 1,000 messages coming from people who cannot vote for the official. That's why it is important to include your name and address in anything you send. If the staff person knows you are a voter, your letter will be ranked high.
By the way, they do indeed know if you are a voter or not. These days, politicians maintain voter files. They purchase your voting record from state agencies and combine it with consumer information about you purchased from other sources. They don't know who you voted for, but can easily determine if you voted or not, how often, and in what elections (president, state governor, school board, etc.) Input from active voters is respected more than input from non voters.
E-mails are considered nearly worthless. Hand written letters are heavily weighted. 100 hand written letters saying they support issue X will easily trump 10,000 e-mails sent in opposition to issue X. That's because politicians know the well-funded interest groups can generate thousands of e-mails, faxes, and even citizen phone calls from their members. But a hand-written letter takes more thought and effort. It's more real, and more likely to be from a "real" citizen who is weiging in on the issue. As one U.S. Representave once told me, "You don't have to be sober to send an e-mail."
It should tell you something that the well-funded and well-organized interest groups, and the highly-skilled lobbyists in their employ, are keen to generate citizen letters from their membership bases. That's because elected officials really do pay attention to the citizen imput flowing into their mail rooms.
If you write, do it the old fashioned way. A one-page, hand-written letter that is stamped and not run through a postage meter ranks you above all others and puts you at the top of the reading pile.
