Big questions we’ve had ourselves and that we’ve gotten a lot from IndivisibleEB-ers is “Does my call count? What if the line is busy? Can I email instead?”
Well, Indivisible East Bay did a little research and here’s what we found. The results are reflected in our daily call/email script page.
| MoC | Calls/ emails/ faxes/ postcards tallied the same? | Lag time? | Is more than 1 issue per call/email OK? | What do you need to provide? | Say “I don’t need a response”? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rep. DeSaulnier | Yes | Email through the website or single-issue calls are fastest | Yes! | Full address and email address | Yes |
| Rep. Lee | Calls are the best | Call DC office for legislative issues | Yes | Zip code | No |
| Rep. Salwell | Yes | No | Yes | Full address | No |
| Sen. Harris | Yes | No | Yes | Zip code | Yes |
| Sen. Feinstein | Yes | Emails take up to a week to tally | Yes | Zip code | Yes |
And per Congressman DeSaulnier’s staff, all means of communication are given the same weight and value.
Yup, that’s reflected in the first column of the table. Is it clear the way I wrote it?
Thanks! I can’t help but chuckle with the senators response to “I don’t need a response” because I’ve never mentioned this and yet have NEVER received a response.
This is great, thank you!
Re: responses, I have received a response from a MoC before. It came months later and summarized the actions they had taken on that issue, along with the final outcome. It was not just some form letter saying they’d received my message. So, I do believe it’s courteous to mention you don’t need a response.
Surprised that emails and calls are given the same weight. Seems to be different from what I learned early on from the original Indivisible Guide. Is this just the case because our reps in the East Bay (and our senators) are particularly responsive and make an effort to track emails, while others ignore emails?
I was also surprised. I do think it depends a lot on the individual Member of Congress and their office.