Email this page

How to be an effective citizen advocate

1. Register to vote and VOTE!!!

2. Understand that the legislative process hinges on POWER, political and otherwise.

No matter how good your bill is, or how important it is, or how "right" you are, you will not be successful in passing your bill if you can't get a majority to vote for it. And the reasons they will vote for it may be different than you think.

We would all like to believe that if legislators just knew the facts or understood that a certain law is hurting people or is unfair, they would see the light and vote against it. Unfortunately, the reality is much more complicated than that. Political parties exert a lot of influence over their members. If the leadership of a party or of the House or Senate doesn't like a bill, they can influence other members of their party to vote against it. Some may be influenced by more powerful or well-funded special interest groups. For example, in Arizona, county prosecutors and law enforcement personnel have a lot of sway in the legislature. So do victim's rights groups. Any bill to reform sentencing will be opposed by these groups.

No matter how unfair you think it is, the reality is that there are many people who have more access to your legislator than you do. That's why we have to build up the same kind of power that prosecutors and cops have. How do we do it?

3. Strategy: Numbers, influence.

We cannot afford to be naïve. We can't just go in and give a passionate speech and expect legislators to listen out of the goodness of their hearts. We have to figure out what or who is important enough to them to convince them to vote the way we want.

One thing most legislators want most is to get re-elected. If they know that a large number of registered voters in their district want them to vote a certain way, they will be more likely to vote that way if they think those people will vote for them because of it. It doesn't hurt if they also hear from people who they think are important (other elected officials, prominent members of their party, business leaders, etc.). It is also helpful to get media coverage for your issue, showing how many people think it is important. Legislators are afraid of being portrayed in a bad light in the media.

4. Build relationships and educate legislators about your issues.

Legislators are just regular human beings like me and you. They probably know very little about the issue that is important to you. They see over 1,000 bills a year, plus the budget-they can't possibly know all the details about every one of them. You can offer to be a good source of reliable information for them. If you can earn their trust and show them that your opinion is well-informed and your issue is important, you may be able to sell them on your issue. When sending emails, letters, faxes or calling always identify yourself as a voting constituent for your Legislator's district.

Why will a legislator listen to you?

• You are a constituent from their district, who VOTES!
• You have good reliable information.
• You are a trusted source based on professional background, community status or personal knowledge.
• You are representative of a group they want support from.
• Your comments are representative of broad based cross-section of politically active people.

5. Tell your story.

Note your business or expertise or family situation or family circumstances or professional expertise relevant to the particular program and why you are advocating for that program. Personal stories and experiences make the needs of vulnerable families come alive with passion and emotion and humanize the numbers and data. Be prepared with the facts, but make the facts real with compelling stories from your experience or from others.

^ Top of page