This is probably the most important thing you can do.  Our legislators work for us, not the other way around.  We need to be willing to make noise and make our voices heard.

If you are unsure who your elected officials are, we can help with that.  Check out our Legislative Action Center.  You can find your legislators, look up pending legislation, and even contact the media, all from this powerful web-based tool.

E-mails are nice aned they are easy to send, but there is some disagreement about their effectiveness because they are so easy to send and forget.  Postal mail can be more effective, but some legislators get so much postal mail that they don't take the time to sort through it all.  Phone calls are generally more effective than postal mail.  Paying a personal visit to a legislator or a Sheriff is the most effective way to get their attention.

When contacting an official, be polite, but be firm.  It does not do any good to get into a shouting match or a long, drawn out debate with any elected official.  Address them by their title, not on a first-name basis.  Stick to the facts, and leave emotions out of the process.

When wiriting to ask support for a House File (HF) or Senate File (SF), it is probably not necessary to explain the text of the files to the representative, but draw their attention for the reason for the files.  These letters can be made concise, but explaining how they affect you personally is what is important.  We'd like to assume that the representatives have actually read the house files, but not all bills and house files get more than the quick once over so a one line synopsis of what the file entails might not be a bad idea.   Don't clutter the whole body of the letter with a reprint of the legislation while leaving no room to explain how it affects you personally.  If you make your letter too long, it will get the quick once over and not have the effect you intended.

Make sure you use the proper salutations which is always, "Honorable".  It shows a sign of respect for the position regardless of whether you voted for the representative or not.   Break your letter up into paragraphs.  A paragraph is the start of a new idea which is what you are going to be presenting: several different ideas.  It also makes your letter much easier to read than one long small font statement.

Your letter will most likely be read first by a secretary but if it catches his or her interest, you have a much better chance of your letter being passed on to your representative which is your prime goal.

Explain in one sentence what the HF or SF does and use two sentences to explain how it affects you and your fellow citizens, if you can.  You may have to use more text than that, but do try to keep it to a minimum.  The representative can read the file for themselves.   You just want to give them a reason to do that.   At that point he will be able to put together the file and how it affects you.

Write the letter and then proof read it to find what can be deleted or made more concise. You'll find that much of a letter is redundant since they already have the file before them so don't waste text rewriting it for them.

Thank the legislator for his or her time and attention, and close with an action item: that you expect a response to your letter.

And nowhere is it written that you can only write one letter to your legislator!  You might follow up with a phone call or a face to face meet at the capital.  Don't take a simple brush-off as the end of the situation.  Be persistent.  Keep notes of any interaction you have with a legislator, so we can accurately keep track of who supports our cause and who doesn't.