Congress Online Project :
Congress Online Special Report
E-mail Overload In Congress -
Update August 7, 2002 CONGRESSIONAL E-MAIL VOLUME: DAUNTING BUT STABILIZING.
Last accessed on Nov. 7, 2005 @ http://www.congressonlineproject.org/080702volume.html
Inbound e-mail to Members of Congress continues to remain at staggering levels, but offices appear to be improving their ability to handle the volume.
From 1999 - 2002 (projecting this year's numbers using six months of data), inbound e-mail to House Members increased 186%.
Inbound e-mail for a similar period to Senators increased 69%.
However, the increase in the amount of inbound e-mail to the House this year has slowed significantly, from an increase of 78% in 2001 to a projected increase of 2.5% this year.
Also surprising is that the Senate is not experiencing a similar leveling of e-mail volumes. E-mail volume to the Senate increased 22% in 2001 and is projected to increase 24% in 2002.
Despite the respite for House Members, they are still swimming in a sea of online communications.
The House and Senate received 117 million inbound e-mail messages in 2001. On an average day, House offices received 234,245 e-mail messages and Senate offices get 88,009.
