Letters to Legislators

Letter writing campaigns are a great way to involve students and faculty as well as Democracy Matters members in exercising democracy by pressuring their elected representatives. You can do this by tabling on campus with sample letters, or by organizing a campus-wide “Letter- Writing Party.”

Get Creative

A. Table with materials to make Holiday Cards – Valentines, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. (Enclose a pre-printed short letter explaining your goal of getting big money out of politics!)

Valentines with poems like “Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, We want public financing and hope you do too.” Halloween cards with messages like “BOO! Don’t be afraid to support public financing.” Or “RIP Democracy unless we get Clean Elections.” See Holiday celebrations.

B. Letter-Writing Party – You can use this idea for a DM meeting or to organize a big event, inviting students to combine letter-writing with a student band and refreshments!

Hints for writing good letters:

1) Make sure the letters are handwritten.

2) The letters should be addressed to a student’s elected officials in their hometowns or to those who represent the area of the college or university attended.

3) DM should collect, stamp and mail the letters.

4) Encourage students to personalize the letter around a particular interest like environment, tuition, etc. This is a great way to get students educated and comfortable with the issues. They should go to the issue impacts section to learn more about their issue and its link to money in politics.

See sample letters to elected officials in downloadable materials.