RCVforTexas has put together some tips and suggestions that will make it easier for you to effectively advocate for ranked choice voting. Please use these resources to contact your elected officials, local newspapers, and social media audience as we advocate for ranked choice voting. Please remember to add a personal story to your email messages, letters, telephone calls, and social media posts to help illustrate why ranked choice voting matters so much to you.

Build Relationships with Your State Legislators

Even though the Texas legislature meets for only 140 days every other year, lawmakers are still keen to hear from their constituents while in session at the Capitol or in their home district offices between sessions.  An election year offers a special opportunity because candidates, both incumbents and challengers, want to hear from you.  RCVforTexas grassroots advocates can take advantage of this openness to build a relationship with their legislators – specifically their staffers.

Getting to know a staffer is so important because they are the ones who study and evaluate legislation and its potential impact on voters before making a recommendation to the boss.  Establishing and maintaining a sustained relationship with staff members can be more important to moving legislation than petitions or even fundraising.

AND remember: For our nonpartisan agenda to have the best chance at success, we must engage with all legislators, not just the ones we like.

We hope these tools will be useful to you and help make your activism more effective. Click on each one to learn how to make a difference.

Virtual Advocacy

• Find your representative
• Contacting your representative: Contacting an elected official through correspondence or phone calls can be a very effective way of advocating for an issue or piece of legislation. You can find your representative here. 

  Below are the most frequent types of contact that constituents have with their legislators, in order from most effective to least effective:

  1. In person meetings in-district or at the Capital (guidelines here)
  2. Handwritten letter or typed, original letter on personal stationary (see email template below).
  3. Phone call (see template here)
  4. E-mail (see template here)
  5. Electronic petition

  While personal communication is obviously best, any contact is worthwhile, even if you only have a minute to sign an electronic petition.

  Guidelines for your correspondence or conversation

  • Stick to one subject. Don’t dilute your main point by discussing multiple issues.
  • Be brief. Limit your note to one page.
  • Include the specific bill number and title (if pertinent).
  • Get personal. Describe how the legislation impacts you and your community.
  • Be political. Explain the relevance of the issue to your hometown, district, or state.
  • Ask for action.
  • Be courteous and appreciative. A written “thank you” when deserved gets attention with elected officials. Follow the issue after you write and send a letter of thanks if your legislator votes your way.

 In-Person Advocacy

• Visit your representative in district or at the Texas Capitol (see helpful hints and meeting format).
• Testify at the Capitol (how to)