Tips on Contacting Elected Officials

Communicating with elected officials is a vital part of creating lasting change. Whether you are making a call, writing a postcard, or sending an email, here are ways you can reach them so that they will listen.

Tips for Calls and Written Outreach

• Keep it brief. Outreach is most powerful when it's brief, courteous, focused on one issue, and shared from your perspective in your own words. For written messages, generally a few sentences or brief paragraphs are the most appreciated.

• State who you are and what you want up front. Begin by sharing that you are a constituent. Identify your name and address. If you have a connection to the policymaker, mention it. You should then quickly and clearly identify the issue motivating your outreach, referencing a specific proposal or stating the issue in general terms. Example: Senator, My name is Jane Smith and I live in your district at 111 Anyplace Lane in Anyplace, Nebraska. I'm reaching out about LB 5 to make our employment practices more fair. I hope you'll support this important bill.
• Cover your key points. Tell your elected official why an issue matters to you, your family, and your community. Share a brief personal story if you have one. Policymakers use these stories in debate and in deciding how to vote. Remember, you're the expert on your own experience, and you can help your policymaker cast their vote wisely. 

Tips for Meetings

Meeting a policymaker in person is an effective way to talk to them about what matters to you

• Schedule your meeting. Email or call the elected official to request a meeting. When you do this, be sure to tell them what you want to talk about. If you’re their constituent, tell them. If you’re bringing another constituent or someone else to the meeting, let them know.
• Decide what you hope to get out of the meeting. Maybe you're hoping to help the official understand the importance of a general issue on your community or trying to secure their support or opposition to a specific proposal.
• Do your homework. Do you know the policymaker's position on the issue? Have they supported issues important to you in the past? 
• Be flexible and patient. Give the official's office time to respond to your request for a meeting. For outreach to state senators, understand that they will have the most flexibility before or after session when they have fewer demands on their time.
• Follow up. After the meeting, don’t forget to send a thank you note to leave a lasting impression and strengthen the relationship you’ve established.

Additional Tips for In-Person Meetings

• Dress professionally.
• Be warm, courteous, prompt, and patient.
• Remember that officials are people too! Bringing up a personal, professional, or political connection that you have at the outset of the conversation may help you build rapport. (Do your kids go to school together, for example?)
• Keep it short and focused. You may have as little as 10 minutes. Make the most of that brief time by sticking to your topic and talking points.
• Provide personal and local examples of the impact of the policy that motivated your outreach.
• Ask when you should check back in to find out what your elected official intends to do about your request.