Best Practices for Arranging to Meet Elected Officials
Put your faith into action, arrange to meet the people who are elected to serve you and share your opinions with them.
- Research shows that only about 7% of voters contact their elected officials;
- Congresspersons maintain easy-to-reach in-district offices to serve their constituents;
- You are not expected to be an expert, just a concerned citizen who has an opinion and maybe a story to go along with it.
Know Who Represents You
To find out who represents you in the U.S. Congress and how to contact them, log in to CAIR’s site as a member. You can also find out by calling the Capitol Hill Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 (have your zip code ready) or CAIR at (202) 488-8787.
Get Contact Information for the Member’s Scheduler
Call the member’s office and ask for the proper spelling of the scheduler’s name and their fax number and e-mail address.
Send a Written Request for a Meeting
Include the following information: the topic you wish to discuss at the meeting; names of those who will attend, if possible limit your group to no more than five; when you would like to meet and your contact information. Include your address so they can verify that you are a constituent. Members are generally in the district weekends and during Congressional recess periods. Members are generally in Washington, D.C. on weekdays..
Send Your Request
Send the request to the Congressperson’s scheduler by fax and e-mail.
Confirm the Request’s Receipt
Wait two business days and then call the scheduler to confirm that your request was received.
Be Politely Persistent
Be patient and flexible, it may take several calls to get a firm meeting time.
Call the Day Before
Call the day before your appointment to reconfirm it.
Want to know more? Need help or advice?
Call CAIR and talk to someone in our government relations department.