Calling Your Elected Official

1. Finding your official's contact information:
2. Preparing for your call:
  • Be sure to know exactly what issue and legislation (by bill number, if you have one) you wish to discuss.
  • Make sure they know that you are a constituent.
  • Prepare some basic talking points. It's tough to make a strong case for your position when you are unclear on what you really want changed.
  • Remember time is limited. Be sure that you limit yourself to one or two main points and don't get sidetracked.
  • Decide what you want to achieve. Asking your legislator or his or her staff member to do something specific will help you know how successful your visit has been.
3. During the call:
  • Be polite and patient.
  • Keep it short and focused.
  • Be positive. Start the call by thanking the legislator for any votes he or she has made in support of your issues.
  • Stick to your talking points.
  • Provide personal and local examples of the impact of the legislation.
  • Do not make up an answer to a question. Just say that you aren't sure of an answer: giving wrong or inaccurate information can seriously damage your credibility.
  • Set deadlines for a response. Ask when you should check back to find out what your legislator intends to do about your request. If you need to send information to your legislator, set a clear timeline for when this will happen.
4. After the call:
  • Write down notes about what you spoke about to remember what the elected official committed to do and what follow-up information you committed to send. 
  • Promptly send a personal thank you letter to the legislator. 
  • If the elected official or staff member doesn't meet the deadline for action you agreed to during the meeting, ask him or her to set another deadline. Be persistent and flexible!
If you are planning to call your legislator in regards to an ACLU issue, let us know what you learned during your meeting by sending an e-mail to sweisberg@aclumich.org. Knowing what arguments your legislator used, what issues are important to him or her, and what positions he or she took will help us make our lobbying strategy more effective.