Stichting Het Nieuwe Stemmen

With the help of the website Mailyourpolitician (Maildepolitiek) citizens can contact politicians. The aim of Mailyourpolitician is to make it easier for citizens to get in touch with politicians. The website was launched in the spring of 2008 by ms. Ter Horst, Dutch Minister of Internal Affairs.

How does Mailyourpolitician work?

In Mailyourpolitician citizens can ask politicians questions on a local and national scale. By completing five simple questions on the subject, the appropriate politician is selected. Mailyourpolitician consists of a database with all Dutch local, regional and national politicians featuring their field of responsibility. With the help of just a postal code and a question subject, the system automatically traces the relevant politician and forwards the question. If no response is given after several automated reminders, the question will automatically be forwarded to a politician with the same expertise of a opposition party. Questions are published in public archives, unless otherwise indicated. For privacy reasons, Mailyourpolitician does not provide email adresses of politicians to civilians.

Why mailyourpolitician?

Mailyour politician aims to lower the barriers for citizens to contact their representatives. Many websites of government and local authorities hardly provide information of chosen representatives. Mailyourpolitician makes all chosen representatives in the Netherlands accessable for citizens.

How does it work?

Mailyourpolitician consists of a database with the data of 10.000 Dutch local, regional and national politicians. Besides contact data, information about expertise, experiences and personal characteristics has been collected in the database. Mailyourpolitician is designed in such a way that the system 'learns' when new questions and answers are posted. At the moment NVF is improving the first version of the website.