OKWatch: Want to Email Your State Representative? First Fill Out the Form.
Want to Email Your State Representative? First Fill Out the Form.
By Mollie Bryant, April 7, 2017
A change to the Oklahoma House website removed legislators’ public email addresses and replaced them with a contact form that some critics believe will restrict access to lawmakers.
The House replaced public emails with online forms that require senders to disclose their first and last names, address and telephone number – information that previously wasn’t required to email lawmakers.
Some House members say the form is needed to limit mass and spam emails and help highlight messages from their own constituents. Others questioned whether requiring personal information in order to email a state representative would discourage emails from even constituents.
Minority Leader Scott Inman, D-Del City, opposes the new system and said his office has received calls and emails asking where to find individual representatives’ email addresses since system went into effect about six months ago.