Representation in State Legislatures

Abstract

In Summer 2003, the Institute of Public Policy conducted a mail survey of state legislators to determine how legislators feel about constituency service and the use of technology, whether they believe email has a positive effect on communication, whom they contact via email and the impact of the internet on the legislature. The states that were surveyed were chosen based on a number of legislative features including multimember districts (MMDs) versus single member districts (SMDs) and term limits. Arizona, New Jersey, North Dakota, and South Dakota are all MMDs for the lower level chambers and single member district SMDs for the upper level chamber while Colorado, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina are entirely SMDs. Of these states, Arizona, South Dakota, Colorado and Missouri currently have term limits in place.