‘MyLetter.to’ Makes It Easy to Contact Elected Officials

The goal of MyLetter.to is to streamline communication between citizens and their elected officials by composing and mailing letters on behalf of users for a $2 fee. (Screen grab via MyLetter.to)

A Los Angeles-based team of six has developed what it calls a “micro-lobbying tool for the masses.” The MyLetter.to website simplifies the process of sending well-articulated letters to elected officials and requires users to make only a few clicks and provide a signature and return snail mail address.

“When it comes to our communication with the government, it’s almost nil,” Desh Weragoda, the website’s founder, told Truthdig. “We complain a lot about it, but we don’t really do anything about it.”

The purpose of MyLetter.to is to “make a difference without the stress of actually writing a letter,” according to the website. “You select the components of the letter and we craft it for you instantaneously. Then, we send it for you. … In less than a minute you can have an impactful and unique letter that explains your opinion in a professional format.”

The website, which launched in beta in November, can generate 200 million unique letters to send to local, state or federal officials, according to Weragoda.

“For us, no two letters are the same, so it’s your own unique letter,” he said. “So if a hundred thousand people came in and they selected ‘in opposition’ to gun control and [had] the same three reasons as you, each one of those letters [still] will be unique.”

The website is designed for simplicity and accessibility to users of all ages, Weragoda explained. After a user obtains permission to use the website while it’s in beta testing, the letter-writing process is a simple, seven-step process.

“We started this app with the idea to reduce political apathy,” Weragoda said. “Why are people politically inactive? In my research, it’s knowledge, time and effort required to write a letter, come up with the research, buy the stamps, fold [the letter], and go and put it in the mailbox.”

“If you look at our society at large, we’re used to convenience,” he continued. “The idea is that if I can make political action meaningful and purposeful and make political action more convenient, there will be more adoption for it.”

When a user enables the website to access a specific location, the site pulls up addressees, including local and state officials as well as President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and President-elect Donald Trump. The user selects an addressee and chooses one of 15 topics, ranging from gun control to Syrian refugees. (Numerous other topics are in the planning stages.)

The user is then prompted for a stance (“in favor” or “in opposition”), which generates a list of arguments to focus on in the letter.

For example, a position in favor of enacting policies that limit climate change would prompt the user to choose three issues, such as “rising ocean temperatures,” “scientific consensus” and “greenhouse effect.”

A letter to the president-elect about these particular issues might read:

The Honorable Donald J. Trump Donald Trump Transition Team 1717 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, Washington DC 20006 12/19/2016 Dear Mr. Trump, Your race to the White House has been amazing and tumultuous, and I commend your efforts during this lengthy process. Global warming is the biggest threat to the world. We must band together to create green policy and slow the effects. Please see my reasons below why we must fight for our planet.

According to the IPCC’s 2013 report, it is inevitable (with a 99-100% probability) that the upper ocean temperatures warmed between 1971 and 2010, demonstrating an unprecedented global warming and a plethora of unprecedented climate consequences.

The greenhouse effect is the primary driving force behind global warming. It is when greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (such as carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide) traps the heat of sunlight as it hits the Earth, causing the planet to warm as well.

In 2010, an Anderegg study revealed that the overwhelming majority of voices in the climate research community all say the same thing: global climate change is the result of human activity. 97 to 98% of climate change researchers currently active echo this sentiment.

We need to set the bar for the rest of the world and start slowing global warming. Someone has to start the change, and it should be us.

The letter is formatted in four parts: an opening, summary of issues, body and conclusion. A later version of MyLetter.to will allow for more customization, such as rearranging the contents of the letter, adding a second page and selecting a paper color.

MyLetter.to mails the letter on behalf of the user for a cost of $2. “I wanted to keep the costs very low,” Weragoda said. “It’s business, but it’s also a service to the public.”

The goal of MyLetter.to is to streamline communication between citizens and their elected officials. The letters, which are printed with unique barcodes, eventually will allow a politician’s staff to scan the code and directly reply to the sender through the MyLetter.to website.

The website’s ability to generate unique letters that originate from individual addresses sets it apart from organizations that mail out form letters that require only an individual’s signature, Weragoda explained.

“[Form letters] don’t have the same impact that an individual letter does because someone’s just signing their name on something that’s already been pre-written by an organization, and it’s addressed from the same location as well,” Weragoda said. “[Our] system can currently do about 200 million unique letters … and we’re gonna be able to get that up to trillions.”

Weragoda’s goal is to make MyLetter.to available to the public—meaning a user will not have to request permission to use the service first—by Inauguration Day.

There’s no better time to release a platform that caters to the people who feel their opinions don’t count, according to Weragoda. “We can mobilize our country to take more political action, even through a small step like this.”