Does the US Congress and Senate get too many Emails and if not, how do they deal with the ones they receive?

Question

Honestly, I have not sent an email. I was more curious about what happens behind the scene. I thank those who respond and especially those in the know. Perhaps now, a couple more people will take advantage of this opportunity, including myself, knowing that the emails are actually paid attention to.

Answer 1

Typically there are more phone calls fielded than emails. But every Congressional office has a certain ratio of staff (mainly interns NOT SECRETARIES) to the number of constituents, and their likelihood of contacting the office. There is no such thing as "too many" because every email and phone call is taken seriously by the staffers that are responsible for receiving this info. HOWEVER, whether these are addressed by the higher-ups, depends on how unique the email/call is, how urgent, etc. If it is someone sending an email saying, "I think you suck for voting this way on such-and-such measure" then that is tallied (along with the doubtless others just like it), and then the staff will act accordingly, if there are enough people who share that opinion. My guess is that you sent an email and haven't heard back. It has not gone ignored. But if you are really worried about it, call the actual offices...there are countless college kids everywhere who are trained and ready to talk to you.

Answer 2

I would imagine that they do get a bunch of emails, but they do have a way of dealing with each one. Many organizations that send emails to Congress representatives and senators are pre-scripted. So when they receive the same email from say a couple thousand people, a pre-scripted response is sent back. That's probably one person's job is to send those emails out.

Answer 3

Yes, they actually get the emails and they have their staff read them before sending them on to the intended.
This I know as a fact because I have sent emails to our senators and have received replies too from them.
If you have a "good" senator he/she will answer your emails if they have time but again the staff will handle most of the emails.

Answer 4

Each senator and congressman has a secretary or several which sift the mail for them and in many cases answer letters. It is their job to read the mail but they only concern themselves with those that they can actually do anything with. Otherwise the secretary will just send you a generic "hope this is enough to keep your vote" letter.

Answer 5

They have secretaries that check their email, compile them, and decide which ones need to be seen by the Senator or Rep. The rest are handled by members of their staff, either answered or looked into.

Answer 6

I've fired off e-mails to my elected officials on occasion, when I've felt they needed my opinion on certain issues. I've sent them to Congressmen, Senators, State Reps. and the State Governor. Surprisingly, I've always had a response from them. It wasn't always what I wanted to hear, and I usually felt it was "partisan slanted", but they DID respond.

Answer 7

I'm guessing....yes...and if it's anything like the stuff on this site, I'm betting they throw it away. Junk mail!

Answer 8

two words: auto responder...

Also, if you're not a constituent of their district/state- you may not get a reply at all

Answer 9

The same way I deal with spam... delete, delete, delete, etc.