Calling Your Elected Official
1. Finding your official's contact information:- Contacting your Representative or Senator can really make a difference. You can easily find your legislators by using the links below:
House of Representatives
Michigan Senate
- 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.
- 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.
- 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!