A study published by Capitol Advantage, under the guidance of Dr. Dennis Johnson, reviewed email deliverability by online advocacy vendors.

The study tested 37 offices that use an auto-responder to confirm a message has been received by the office. The research found that several of the vendors failed miserably in their ability to send e-mails to Congress: 6 of the 10 could not deliver 50 percent of the e-mail through their systems.

And even worse than failing to deliver, it appears that most vendors did not even inform the citizen about the failure. There were no indications by any of the vendors that they informed customers when they were unable to deliver e-mail messages to Congress.

"Citizens would be understandably upset if they knew that letters they sent through the U.S. Post Office were never delivered," writes Dennis W. Johnson, the George Washington University professor who oversaw the study for the e-mail company. "Unfortunately, there is strong evidence that much of the electronic mail that citizens assume is reaching Congress is ending up in an electronic trash can."

Vendors, who promise to deliver online messages to Congress, but fail to do so, are robbing clients and citizens of an essential democratic right.

Communicating With Congress
Study Finds Missed Messages On Capitol Hill
Connecting Citizens and Legislators