Page 6 - Contact Your Lawmakers Research

Contacting Your Member of Congress - Fact or Fiction? Research Project

There is no way to automatically sort, analyze, and then count Facebook posts as to whether or not the user
is for or against a specific policy. So that information has no real analytical value. And unfortunately we
were not able to find a single documented instance of social media posts resulting in a lawmaker reversing

his or her policy decision

Filling out a website comment form
Emily Ellsworth, a former staffer for Utah Reps. Jason

Chaffetz and Chris Stewart, has noted that certain
methods of communication are better than others when
it comes to getting lawmakers' attention. Ellsworth

cautions against relying on email, website comment
forms or snail mail to make your voice heard. According

to Ellsworth, emails and letters arrive by the thousands
in congressional offices and they are often sorted and
responded to with topic-centered form letters.

Website comment forms are scanned for key words and

a standard response is sent. In fact to prove that point,
a few years ago I filled out Florida Senator Bill Nelson’s
comment form and complained about Micky Mouse

insulting my wife and I demanded a public apology from
Micky, Minnie, Goofy and Donald Duck.

I also demanded that Mr. lt Disney be there personally.
I added certain “key words” that I knew their computer
algorithm would find. It worked and I received a canned

response about Nelson’s efforts to grow tourism in
central Florida.

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