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When you made your phone calls, did you call from a phone in the area code they represented? Did they ask for your zip code?

by Agustus 10y ago

tptacek 10y ago
I called my IL reps/sens at their main DC office using my 312 cell phone. I suppose it's possible they look at caller ID, but it seems unlikely, since so many Chicago residents have non-Illinois numbers. Nobody ever asked for my zip code, although I introduced myself as a voter from Oak Park, so maybe that sufficed. I think there is literally no chance whatsoever that your reps are somehow checking whether you're registered to vote. They barely have time to make a tally mark for your position.
- fnord123 10y ago
  Surely they can't be stupid enough to look at the area code using caller ID. People living abroad are registered with the district where they last lived in the US so of course they will be calling from elsewhere. And many people work in a different county than they live.
  - Agustus 10y ago
    I asked because I am trying to gauge the user experience that he/she had in calling their representatives versus mine. Mine spent a considerable amount of time with me and asked my zip code. For the representatives aide to not ask for any identifying information led to my asking the area code question, the person receiving the call may have used it as a crib to put them as within the representatives area.
  - specialist 10y ago
    There are services which correlate emails, phones, facebook with voter records. I know they're used for campaigning. I'll ask around to see if any electeds use them.
- pasbesoin 10y ago
  I have received written responses to some of my written/faxed communications [1]. Although some of these may have been form letters or copy/pasta text put together by a staffer, some responded to specific points I'd made. If/when their office is to the point of actually generating a response, if it's technically competent (or has hired professionals to be so on their behalf), it should be trivial to check the contact information (mailing address or phone number, certainly) against voter registration records. Name/address directly. Phone number with one cross reference between call lists and those records. I suppose I, like many people here, may be considerably more thorough and detail oriented than many political staffers, by nature and also work environment (think "harried"). Still, if I were one of them and was taking the time to generate a response, if the system made such a lookup trivial, I'd probably do it, first. And, given the Obama campaign's escalation of electronic media, followed on by Trump and the Republican's apparent (hired) social media analysis and targeting (micro-targeting, even), I'd expect voter registration to be drawn further into developing campaigning systems to the extent it's not already present. Even if you're still going to target an unregistered participant, it gives you a better handle on why you are targeting them (e.g. their social graph) and with what messages. As for myself, when I communicate, I indicate that I have voted in the past and that the topic at hand will influence my vote, going forward. ---- 1. Faxed due to time constraints, e.g. a last minute push to convince a Democratic U.S. Representative with a known "pro-business" stance, who was on the fence with regard to support for the ACA legislation. By the way, at those times, I found faxing a convenient way to communicate a custom-written communication without the delay of postal mail and worry about screening or quantity of mail resulting in the letter getting shit-canned, nor lost in a sea of easily and mass generated email. I've noticed in the last 5 - 10 years, that U.S. Congress members' fax numbers have been increasingly disappearing from their web sites and other current sources of contact information. But third party providers of said contact information, current or archival, still have and display them. And they still work. The ACA. SOPA. The various "trade" deals. I've had a few occasions. And that U.S. Representative ended up voting for the ACA. While they were "pro-business", in my letter I pointed out that businesses were having considerable problems with spiraling health costs and remaining competitive. Including small and medium sized, job-generating businesses in their district. And I included some specific examples I was aware of. That's how you get through to them. And if people unhappy with current circumstances want to "get through", right now and in advance of mid-terms, a surge in registration, and in absentee ballot voting, are some good ways to do so. People bothering to register, shows intent as well as potential shift in voter demographics. And... there are local elections between now and mid-terms. Elections where choices often have more immediate consequences for the voter, anyway. Absentee ballots demonstrate the planned desire to vote as well as that election-day schedule constraints and other problems aren't going to suppress the voter's vote. I'm not hopeful. But, people -- including a bunch of bitching people who didn't haul their asses to the polls last November -- can start sending a message now, if they actually choose to.

When you made your phone calls, did you call from a phone in the area code they represented? Did they ask for your zip code?

by Agustus 10y ago

When you made your phone calls, did you call from a phone in the area code they represented? Did they ask for your zip code?

tptacek 10y ago

I called my IL reps/sens at their main DC office using my 312 cell phone. I suppose it's possible they look at caller ID, but it seems unlikely, since so many Chicago residents have non-Illinois numbers. Nobody ever asked for my zip code, although I introduced myself as a voter from Oak Park, so maybe that sufficed. I think there is literally no chance whatsoever that your reps are somehow checking whether you're registered to vote. They barely have time to make a tally mark for your position.

fnord123 10y ago
Surely they can't be stupid enough to look at the area code using caller ID. People living abroad are registered with the district where they last lived in the US so of course they will be calling from elsewhere. And many people work in a different county than they live.
- Agustus 10y ago
  I asked because I am trying to gauge the user experience that he/she had in calling their representatives versus mine. Mine spent a considerable amount of time with me and asked my zip code. For the representatives aide to not ask for any identifying information led to my asking the area code question, the person receiving the call may have used it as a crib to put them as within the representatives area.
- specialist 10y ago
  There are services which correlate emails, phones, facebook with voter records. I know they're used for campaigning. I'll ask around to see if any electeds use them.
pasbesoin 10y ago
I have received written responses to some of my written/faxed communications [1]. Although some of these may have been form letters or copy/pasta text put together by a staffer, some responded to specific points I'd made. If/when their office is to the point of actually generating a response, if it's technically competent (or has hired professionals to be so on their behalf), it should be trivial to check the contact information (mailing address or phone number, certainly) against voter registration records. Name/address directly. Phone number with one cross reference between call lists and those records. I suppose I, like many people here, may be considerably more thorough and detail oriented than many political staffers, by nature and also work environment (think "harried"). Still, if I were one of them and was taking the time to generate a response, if the system made such a lookup trivial, I'd probably do it, first. And, given the Obama campaign's escalation of electronic media, followed on by Trump and the Republican's apparent (hired) social media analysis and targeting (micro-targeting, even), I'd expect voter registration to be drawn further into developing campaigning systems to the extent it's not already present. Even if you're still going to target an unregistered participant, it gives you a better handle on why you are targeting them (e.g. their social graph) and with what messages. As for myself, when I communicate, I indicate that I have voted in the past and that the topic at hand will influence my vote, going forward. ---- 1. Faxed due to time constraints, e.g. a last minute push to convince a Democratic U.S. Representative with a known "pro-business" stance, who was on the fence with regard to support for the ACA legislation. By the way, at those times, I found faxing a convenient way to communicate a custom-written communication without the delay of postal mail and worry about screening or quantity of mail resulting in the letter getting shit-canned, nor lost in a sea of easily and mass generated email. I've noticed in the last 5 - 10 years, that U.S. Congress members' fax numbers have been increasingly disappearing from their web sites and other current sources of contact information. But third party providers of said contact information, current or archival, still have and display them. And they still work. The ACA. SOPA. The various "trade" deals. I've had a few occasions. And that U.S. Representative ended up voting for the ACA. While they were "pro-business", in my letter I pointed out that businesses were having considerable problems with spiraling health costs and remaining competitive. Including small and medium sized, job-generating businesses in their district. And I included some specific examples I was aware of. That's how you get through to them. And if people unhappy with current circumstances want to "get through", right now and in advance of mid-terms, a surge in registration, and in absentee ballot voting, are some good ways to do so. People bothering to register, shows intent as well as potential shift in voter demographics. And... there are local elections between now and mid-terms. Elections where choices often have more immediate consequences for the voter, anyway. Absentee ballots demonstrate the planned desire to vote as well as that election-day schedule constraints and other problems aren't going to suppress the voter's vote. I'm not hopeful. But, people -- including a bunch of bitching people who didn't haul their asses to the polls last November -- can start sending a message now, if they actually choose to.