American Socialist Voter

E-mail messages, while "tallied", are not necessarily read by your senator or representative. Phone calls are the quickest method of communication, but unless your legislator is available to speak with you, your concerns will be relayed to him or her through a staff member. In this way, neither your message nor your personal touch reaches your legislator directly.

Writing a letter is simple and is, in fact, the most popular method of reaching a member of Congress. When drafting a letter, please bear in mind these few basic suggestions:

Be Direct: State the purpose of writing your legislator in the first paragraph of the letter.

Be Accurate: If your letter concerns a specific piece of legislation, identify it as such, e.g., House bill: H.R. (number), Senate bill: S. (number). The Library of Congress provides a web site that will assist you in researching a House or Senate bill number. Please visit the Library of Congress at thomas.loc.gov.

Be Concise: Keep the letter to one page, if possible.