Contact Your Elected Officials

Call During the Session

During the Legislative Session, you can have a message sent directly to your state legislator by calling the clerk's office of either chamber:

Find out who your Elected Officials are...

• Legislators (State House and Senate)
• State Board of Education member
• Other elected officials

Links to Your Elected Officials' Contact Info:

• Representative in the State Legislature
• Senator in the State Legislature 
• Governor
• State Board of Education

Why contact elected officials at the state and local levels?

Most of the decisions that affect Utah's education system and your neighborhood public schools are made by elected officials at the state and local levels.

Since less than 10% of the funding for Utah's public schools comes from the federal government, federal politicians (like your U.S. Senator and Representative in the U.S. Congress) have little influence over the policies affecting Utah schools.

Since state and local officials represent much fewer voters than federal politicians, your contact with them will have much more influence on their decision-making. With so much attention being paid to national politics, many state and local officials rarely hear from the people they represent. It only takes a few phone calls or letters concerning the same topic to grab a local politician's attention.

How to contact elected officials

Elected officials know they need your vote to stay in office. So the first thing you should do when contacting an elected official is let them know that you are one of their constituents, which means that you live in the political district that they represent. Don't be intimidated by your elected officials. Remember, they work for you.

The most effective forms of communication with an elected official are a face-to-face visit, a phone call, or a letter. Each of these are personal and show that you care enough about the issue to take time out of your busy schedule.

Emails can be effective, too, especially once the elected official knows who you are. If you decide to email an elected official who doesn't know you personally, be sure to indicate in the subject line of your email that you are one their constituents. They will be much more likely to read the email and respond to you.

No matter how you decide to contact your elected official, be respectful yet firm in your communications. Clearly and sincerely express your opinion on the matter at hand. If you are calling or visiting an elected official, it might help to organize your thoughts on paper first.