Power to the People 

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• Get informed. As an expert on the issue, you will be able to help your congressman not only understand it, but be able to effectively pass on your information.

• Pick a medium. "Due to security screening procedures in the Senate, letters sent through the mail can take up to three weeks to arrive in my Washington office," Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) wrote in an e-mail. Even with a phone call, though, the message is written down by hand.

"E-mail is the best way to make sure your whole message gets down," Little says. By going to the House or Senate Web site, you can easily look up officials by zip code and send the e-mail directly from the site.

If you want to have that human connection, though, you can set up a meeting or head on down to the office. Little says that the best time to catch congressmen in Charlotte is during a congressional recess period. And some officials, like Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), offer other chances to meet and greet.

"Sen. Dole also directs her staff to hold traveling office hours in counties around the state," says Katie Hallaway, the communications director for Sen. Dole, so that individuals, "especially those who do not live in close proximity to one of her four North Carolina offices, have the opportunity to discuss their comments and concerns in person."

• Write the message. Despite the novel you could write on the issue, the best way to get your whole message across is actually to be as concise as possible. Make sure to hit all the key "whys" -- why your congressman should listen to you, why the issue relates specifically to your district, why he or she should care -- and be helpful. Offer to testify on the issue and suggest solutions. Finally, ask for a response. Although, as Sen. Burr says, "all inquiries from constituents are answered in a timely manner," asking can help move that process along.

• Sign the message. "It is important that people include their name and contact information if they want a reply," Hallaway says. Also, if you have multiple supporters, 200 names on one letter are more effective than 200 separate form letters, Little says.

• Send the letter. The fastest way to get your message through is to pick a time when your issue is already on your congressman's mind -- when the legislation concerning your issue is up.

• Follow up. Don't be afraid to try again. It can't hurt, and there is always the possibility that the issue just slipped his or her mind (especially if the issue is not part of current legislation).

– Margot Schneider

Create a Petition

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• O.B. (ORIGINAL BOYCOTTERS): Boston Tea Party

Forty-eight thousand Mecklenburg citizens can't be ignored. Their signatures, collected on on a single petition, helped to force the light rail sales tax to a vote in November. And that success wasn't a fluke. You, too, can to tap into the power of petitions. Here's how to do it:

According to thiscause.org, there are a few simple steps to writing a petition. The first step is to figure out exactly what you hope to change, and explain it concisely. Next, you must research exactly where to target your petition. For example, an online petition circulating to ban Michael Vick from football for running a dogfighting ring isn't specifically targeted at Michael Vick. Instead, it's going to the person with the power to make the necessary change: the head of the NFL. The third and final step is to write a sentence addressing your target and specifying your change. Feel free to search the Internet for ideas of how to word your petition. Remember: it's not plagiarism, it's patriotism.

Once you've written your petition, it's time to start gathering names. How you gather names, though, depends on whether you are writing a petition to the government or to a private citizen, business or organization.

Long-time petition manager Sean Haugh, the vice chair of the Libertarian Party in North Carolina, says it's necessary to request official petition rules when you're trying to petition your local government. He warns potential petitioners that under North Carolina law, "signature requirements are so high that you have to bring in outside money in order to hire people [to gather signatures]." Because North Carolina law also stipulates that only pen and paper signatures with names, addresses and phone numbers of registered voters are valid, it is very difficult for the average citizen to muster the resources to petition successfully.

Petitions targeting private businesses or organizations, on the other hand, are a lot easier to launch successfully. These petitions are not regulated by legal guidelines and rely solely on the symbolic value of signatures. Signatures represent people, so when one document shows that so many agree that a change must be made, the symbolic value of signatures has the potential to hurt carefully cultivated corporate images or pressure foreign governments to make changes. According to a 2002 study on e-signatures at Stanford University, pen and paper signatures are generally more widely accepted, but acceptance of e-signatures is becoming more common. You can create an online petition at Ipetition.com or Petitionsite.com, where you can advertise and e-mail links to family, friends and like-minded people.