Letters to the Editor

How and why they work

Letters to the editor are powerful tools to raise awareness, influence public opinion, and put pressure on representatives. Writing letters to the editor is easier than you think and sending letters to the editor are important advocacy goals because they:

• Reach a large audience and hard to reach rural areas

• Are monitored by elected officials by searching their names in the news

• Can bring up information not addressed in a news article

• Create and impression of widespread support for or opposition to an issue

• Open a discussion on a theme or topic

Suggestions for Letters to the Editor on Reforming Redistricting

• Focus on time running out before the 2021 – 10-year redistricting cycle

• Call your state representatives to see if they support an Independent Commission and report their support or lack of support including their name and district

• Why is reforming redistricting important to you?

• Discuss your support for articles that promote reforming redistricting

• Discuss how gerrymandering has impacted you or your district

• Use statistics to demonstrate why gerrymandering allows a minority of voters to win a majority of seats and control the Legislature

• Target a point in an article that talks about gerrymandering or reforming redistricting

• Point out facts in an article on gerrymandering that were not discussed

Tips on Writing Letters to the Editor

• Select one topic and a target newspaper

• Contact or find the newspaper's specifications and write to those (length of letters etc.)

• Make references to previous articles, letters to the editor or timely topics

• Make it timely - respond to a hot issue or recent article

• Make it personal - use your own words, backed up with good arguments and information

• Make the ask - ask for the change you want to see

• Include contact information - generally, they print name and city

SampleS

Our Sample Letters to the Editor

Toolkit

Establish a Letter to the Editor Project with this toolkit

Advocating from Home

Resources, Representative's Addresses, and Background Information