How To Be A Policy Badass Without Getting Trolled: Press This Button To Reach Your Senator

4 min readJan 9, 2017

“Some of the most consequential events of the Trump presidency will begin before Inauguration Day.”
~ Marci Harris, Co-founder and CEO, POPVOX

I know, it’s the first real Monday in January 2017, and we’re all hella busy. But given that President-elect Trump’s nominees for Attorney General, Homeland Security, and Secretary of State lead a list of NINE candidates in confirmation hearings this week, I invite you to put down your to-do list and press a button to tell your Senators what you think.

Here’s how: Nonpartisan POPVOX.com helps us voters cut through political screaming, fake news and online trolling to connect directly to the elected officials we need to hold accountable. It’s easy. Took me 30 seconds. I literally pressed buttons on my smartphone to tell my Senators what I think of Presidential nominations. (And while I also can call 877–959–6082, enter my zip code and tell my Senators the same thing, this mobile-friendly site is faster, better, and makes it easier to act on every nomination.)

Here’s how — I took screenshots of just six, quick steps:

FIRST

First I went to this link on POPVOX.com to weigh in on the nominations.

Go to this link: https://blog.popvox.com/us/executive/nominations/

SECOND

Next, I clicked on Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Alabama), whose nomination as U.S. Attorney General is the first hearing Tuesday, Jan. 10. See how PopVox tracks feedback for “Support” (green) and “Oppose” (yellow)?

Go to this link: https://www.popvox.com/us/issues/115/i448

THIRD

I pushed a button and up popped this screen suggesting I login so that POPVOX could automatically email my U.S. Senators with my opinion. I didn’t have a login so I clicked the link at bottom that says “Sign Up”, which I circled in purple crayon below….

(Yes, that is a circle. I know, it looks like I need to practice my, erm, artistic skills…) Once I clicked this signup link, I got this screen:

Go to this link: https://www.popvox.com/signup

FOURTH

Once POPVOX confirmed who my representatives are, the site suggested I tell U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris my opinion of President-elect Trump’s nominee Sen. Sessions for U.S. Attorney General. The site started a sentence for me, based on whether I had clicked “Support” or “Oppose” in the SECOND step above:

To get here, go to this link: https://www.popvox.com/us/issues/115/i448

FIFTH

So I wrote a note, proving I type marginally better than I draw, andI see that the site smushed my intro into a single sentence, like an email without carriage returns:

SIXTH

Then I hit send. Presto!

Whatever Your Political Persuasion, You Go, You Policy Badass, You

POPVOX translates as, literally, “voice of the people”, and that’s what this nonpartisan site is all about. I so respect Harris and her team for helping voters cut through political screaming, fake news and online trolling to connect us constituents directly to the elected officials we need to hold accountable.

“Public attention is political gold,” writes Harris. “That means that We the People literally have the power (though that power is unevenly distributed). This enhanced power of the people was proven on Day 1 of the new [2017] Congress, when an obscure amendment to House rule proposed on a Monday night in a closed meeting reached provoked a public backlash that by Tuesday morning led House Republicans to pull the measure that would have placed the Office of Congressional Ethics under the Congressional Ethics committee….
“2017 will reconfirm that elected officials care a whole lot more about what their constituents think than anyone else, and that by paying attention and making their voices heard, the people can change the story.”

Hear, hear! And why not start this week, given the list of confirmation hearings? (See Everything You Need To Know About Confirmation Hearings by Harris on POPVOX):

January 10

9:30 AM ET: For Attorney General — Jeff Sessions (Judiciary)

3:30 PM ET: For Sec. of Homeland Security — Retired Gen. John Kelly (Homeland Security)

January 11

9:15 AM ET: For Secretary of State — Rex W. Tillerson (Foreign Relations)

10 AM ET: For CIA Director — Rep. Mike Pompeo (Senate Select Committee on Intelligence)

10 AM ET: For Secretary of Education — Betsy DeVos (HELP)

10:15 AM ET: For Secretary of Transportation — Elaine Chao (Commerce)

January 12

10 AM ET: For Secretary of Housing and Urban Development — Dr. Ben Carson (Banking)

10 AM ET: For Secretary of Commerce — Wilbur Ross (Commerce)

10:30 AM ET: For Secretary of Defense — Ret. General James Mattis (Armed Services)

Now please — be a patriot. Go register and push a few buttons. I’d love to hear about your experience.