Writing, Calling or Visiting Your Elected Officials

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ 

Write your representative in the U.S. House of Representatives online: https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml 

Call the Capitol Hill switchboard at 202-224-3121 to speak with staff for your U.S. Representative and two U.S. Senators, or get their phone numbers and email addresses from: 
http://www.congressmerge.com/onlinedb/ 

Congressional email addresses: http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/congress/conemail.txt 

Guides for writing elected officials:
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/issues/basics/ 
http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa020199.htm 

STATE and COUNTY GOVERNMENT

Find your elected officials (President, Congress, State, County): https://ssl.capwiz.com/usatoday/home/ 

Washington State District Finder: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/districtfinder/ 

Washington State Counties: http://www.mrsc.org/countyprofiles/profilesmenu.aspx 

CITY GOVERNMENT

Local government links: http://www.statelocalgov.net/ 

Washington State Cities: http://www.mrsc.org/cityprofiles/citylist.aspx 
 

Writing Letters to the Editor

Newspaper Links:
http://www.newspaperlinks.com/voyager.cfm 
http://www.usnpl.com/ 
http://www.50states.com/news/

Guides for writing letters to the editor:
http://www.ehow.com/how_8921_write-letter-editor.html
http://www.nancyschwartz.com/letters_to_the_editor.html
 

Speaking at Hearings or Meetings of Governing Bodies

Most legislative bodies and/or their subordinate bodies (e.g., boards, committees, commissions, task forces) have hearings at which members of the public may testify.  Check with the legislative body of interest regarding any rules or tips, and try to attend some other hearing in advance of when you want to speak so you can watch and learn how others testify.

Here are some guides for specific locales which contain some general principles of use every where, although some details will not apply elsewhere:
http://www.oca.state.pa.us/information_links/puchear_tips.htm
http://www.ci.tigard.or.us/city_hall/departments/cd/long_range_planning/docs/hearing_tips.pdf
http://www.charmeck.org/Departments/City+Clerk/Council+Related/Speak+at+a+council+meeting.htm
 

Speaking at "Town Hall" Meetings

Some legislators hold "Town Hall" meetings in their district where they report on current legislative issues and take questions from the audience on any topic of concern.  Here is one guide for effective speaking at a town hall meeting:

http://www.psoriasis.org/files/pdfs/advocacy/thm/200704_tips.pdf
 

Mobilizing Other Citizens to Political Action

This is something that anyone can do.  You don't have to old enough to vote.  You don't have to be a U.S. citizen.  You don't have to be registered to vote.  Talk to your friends, family, neighbors who can vote.  Email them.  Give them literature, or web links.  Ask them to do the action you have in mind.

If you are going to a hearing or town hall meeting to observe or to speak, take a friend along.