In segment #1, former Congressional staffer Zahir Janmohamed provides the following tips for engaging with your congressperson:
1. Do not prioritize online petitions. Even if a petition has 10,000 signatures, most Congressional offices only count it as 1 piece of correspondence.
2. Snail mail gets noticed.
3. Hand-written notes get read. Reps themselves use handwritten notes to communicate high-priority messages to each other.
4. Calls do help. It is better to call a home office (in the Rep’s state) than their DC office.
5. Follow up on calls and letters. This one was new to me! If you sent a letter or called in, check back a few weeks later and ask if the Congressperson is going to respond.
6. Make the rep afraid of consequences. I’m not talking empty or violent threats - tell the Rep they have lost your vote or donation.
7. Choose specific issues and call or write about them on a regular basis. Start small with one thing that matters to you.
8. Make it personal. If you can, connect the issue to a personal example. Talk about your feelings and concerns from the heart, if you can. Facts or speaking from a script is fine if that’s what you have in you.
9. If you can, state your name, address, and phone number in your correspondences. This communicates that you are in a Rep’s district and that you are serious, and gives them a way to follow up with you.
I’m thinking that phone numbers really no longer have much to do with where you’re registered to vote. I’ve moved in and out of my area code twice since I switched to mobile exclusively. I give my name and where I’m registered. And read from a script and if I get an answering machine I can manage to cry a little, too.
Yes, with big caveats – some offices screen based on phone # and some, like Speaker Paul Ryan’s office, have special phone lines that are inaccessible to folks without in-district area codes. Literally won’t let you call.