Be an informed voter

Do you know your legislative district? Find it here: https://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/

The Congressional tab will show you your federal elected officials. There are two U.S. Senators for all of Washington. The state is then divided into Congressional Districts (CDs), with one U.S. Representative per district. Congress works on federal laws and the federal budget.

The Legislative tab will show you your state elected officials. There are two representatives and one senator for each state Legislative District (LD). The state Legislature works on state laws and the state budget.

Know who is running

Find out if they understand and support the issues that you care about.

Some ideas:

• Attend candidate forums.
• Read their websites.
• Ask them questions.

Below, we include lists of the candidates running this fall for state legislative office. We include their contact information, website, and a link to their response (if any) to the candidate questionnaire that The Arc of Washington sent out. If they are an incumbent, we let you know if they attended our 2019 King County Legislative Forum for Developmental Disabilities. If they did, they should have some familiarity with issues that affect people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Stay in touch

Relationships matter a lot in civic engagement. Once someone takes office, contact them. Let them know what you care about. You can arrange a meeting, or just send a note. A really easy way to stay engaged is to sign up for action alerts. When you respond, an email goes out to your elected officials about the issue you care about.

Advocacy tip: Edit action alerts to make them your own. Share something about yourself and why the issue affects you, personally.

• Sign up for alerts from The Arc - Washington State here.
• Sign up for alerts from The Arc - United States here.

Here is a guide to help you draft an letter or testimony:

• Effective messaging