Advocacy Tips

Voting is not enough!  A healthy democracy needs its citizens to be engaged with their elected officials – not just at election time, but throughout the year.  You can make a positive impact on your community by advocating for government programs and legislation.  This is a simple guide that is designed to take the mystery out of advocacy.

To find out who your elected officials are:

• Please visit http://www.vote-smart.org/index.phtml - look for “Find Your Representative.”

There are four ways to contact elected officials:  

• By phone, e-mail, mail, or in person. 
• All four are generally effective methods of communicating with elected officials, especially if you take the time to personalize the communication. 
• If you want to contact an elected official regarding an imminent vote, then a phone call or in-person visit is the best method.
• Your elected officials’ phone numbers, e-mail addresses, mailing addresses and office locations may be found at the Web sites listed in the previous paragraph. 
• If you live in New Jersey, you can get state legislature contact information at www.njleg.state.nj.us/members/legsearch.asp  .
• When communicating by phone, e-mail or mail, chances are you will communicate with an aide who works for the elected official, rather than with the elected official herself.  Not to worry – communicating with an aide can be a very effective way of getting your point across to the elected official.

If you are contacting an elected official by phone:

• Before you call, review the talking points/action alert.
• If you do not have talking points or an action alert, write down the information that you want to cover, including the bill number or budget line item number if you have it.
• Begin the phone conversation by introducing yourself, and indicating that you are a constituent of the elected official.  (Assuming that you are indeed his or her constituent!  There may be times when it is appropriate to contact an elected official who does not represent your district, such as when you are contacting the office of the Senate President or the Speaker of the House and you do not live in his or her district.)
• Briefly indicate the issue that you are calling about (usually a bill or a budget line item), and state your position on that issue.
• Ask how the elected official intends to vote on that issue.  (Or, if you’re asking the elected official to do something other than vote for or against a bill or budget item, indicate what you’d like him or her to do, and ask if he or she will do it.)  Write down the answer, and send it to the advocacy organization that prompted you to make the call.
• Offer to provide your phone number, address and e-mail address.
• Thank the person with whom you are speaking for their time.

If you are contacting an elected official by e-mail or mail: 

• Feel free to use a sample letter prepared by an advocacy organization as a guide, but do not copy the sample letter word for word.  Your e-mail message or letter will be much more effective if you put it in your own words!
• Include the same information described above in “contacting an elected official by phone.”
• Ask the elected official to contact you by phone, e-mail or mail to let you know where he or she stands on the issue.

If you are meeting with an elected official or their aide in person: 

• Call the elected official’s office to schedule an appointment with the elected official. 
• Indicate that you are a constituent (unless you’re not – see above), and indicate what issue you’d like to discuss.
• Indicate whether you’d like to meet the elected official at the State House or at his or her local office.
• If the elected official isn’t available the day or time you’d like to meet, ask for the name of the aide who handles the issue, and schedule an appointment with that aide.
• Be on time!
• Even if your appointment is with the elected official, do not be surprised if you wind up meeting with an aide instead – the elected official may need to participate in a vote, floor debate, hearing or caucus that could not be anticipated when you made your appointment.  Meeting with an aide is time well spent!
• Begin by briefly introducing yourself (unless you are part of a group of more than three individuals, in which case the group’s leader should handle all introductions in the interest of time).  Include your town and neighborhood.
• Briefly indicate the issue you’d like to discuss, and how it affects you, your family, your community, or people you care about.  It is important for the elected official or aide to understand your interest and stake in the matter.
• Be brief.  You may need to get your point across in a very short period of time.  If you are meeting as part of a group, be conscious that others need to talk as well - don’t monopolize the meeting. 
• Use your talking points or fact sheet to keep focused, but do not read from your materials.
• Be direct as to what you’d like the elected official to do.  Be sure to listen for his or her answer.
• Use specific examples and anecdotes when possible, but keep them short. 
• Be honest.  If you don’t know the answer to a question, say you don’t know and offer to get back to the elected official or aide with the information as soon as you are able; then, follow through.
• If the elected official or aide disagrees with you, politely try to find out why he or she disagrees.  Don’t argue!
• Thank the elected official or aide for his or her time.
• Share the results of your meeting with us.  Please e-mail the Federation at info@jf-gmc.org
• Send a thank you note.
• Follow up.  If the elected official or aide promises to do something, call in a week or two to see if he or she has done it.  If the elected official cannot commit his or her support now, call back in a week or two to see if they’ve made up their mind.