If you want to get your opinion heard, there’s a very good chance that your local politicians will have some kind of feedback form you can fill out. In the age of digital communication, you can sign a petition on social media, call a number to leave a message, or send an email to your senators and representatives. But these methods can feel daunting, time consuming, and often, do not result in actual change in policy.
Enter resistbot, an app that aims to make it easy to communicate with Congress from the comfort of your smartphone. Resistbot lets users text their opinions to a phone number, and the service converts that message into a letter that gets sent out to congressional offices. The company has partnerships with the Congressional Management Foundation and each individual office, to ensure that every letter is received and read by the right person.
The first step in hiring this assistant is simple: you text the word RESIST to 50409. You are then prompted to send your name and zip code, and then asked what you want to tell your senators about the issue at hand. You can choose from a set of issues that the app has collected from its supporters, or you can write your own message, including any personal statement and asks you want to make.
In addition to sending those letters to congressional members, the app also messages city (mayors), state (state legislators and governors), and national (Congresspersons and Senators) legislators, and will soon start contacting local newspapers. The app is free to use, and donors can help support the development of new features that will advance activism.
