getting people to traverse pages and fill out forms is tough. however there are so many politically relevant comments generated on the web yet they arent directed to politicians. tapping into this existing content production would be a great goal and integration would be the mantra to get you there. a button is not deep enough and doesnt meet the expectations of a modern web user.
I think simplicity for the user is important, but whats even more important is simplicity for the representative. Ultimately all change rests in their hands, and if your solution makes their lives and jobs more complicated, they're liable to ignore it.
Imagine getting 1000 passionate emails on a topic that have nothing to do with your job, or demanding we do something about clean air when you've already supported every clean air bill that's gone through your office. By increasing the noise they have to deal with, you make it even harder for real issues to get through to them. Focus on designing this solution around how it would be beneficial to the reps, and how they could better understand whats important to their constituents so they can get reelected.
Heres some quick ideas on how to possibly accomplish this:
1) Let people click a button if a story or issue is important to them and allowing them to add comments. As a rep, seeing 1000 emails is overwhelming, but having a control panel that can easily show you how many people care about different issues is helpful. It could sort the different stories / issues by activity, and you could read comments if it looked like a lot of people cared about it so you could get a better idea of what the sentiment was.
2) Somehow show what the stance of your rep is on that issue. Theres no reason to blast them with comments if they're already supporting the issue.
In summation: If you make something that the reps want to use, then people will gravitate towards it so they can get their voice heard, but if you make something that they don't like, then it doesn't matter how great your users think it is. If it doesn't lead to change, they'll eventually stop using it.
