Dear Editor:

Several months ago, I attempted to contact Rep. Jeff Hurd regarding an issue in Ouray County. Upon calling his office, I was connected to a voicemail that stated the best way to contact him was via his website and the “Email Me” button, which I attempted to do, unsuccessfully. Because his website uses the United States Postal Service address verification, it does not recognize my rural address as being a valid street address and I was left with no way to contact Rep. Hurd if I wanted a reply.

The website simply would not allow me to proceed with my email.

I was eventually able to speak to one of his Washington, D.C., staffers who genuinely apologized for that “glitch.”

He offered me the workaround of using the City of Ouray administration office address (320 6th Ave., Ouray, CO 81427) as my address in order to bypass the system that first verifies that I am indeed a constituent in Rep. Hurd’s district. I find it prudent to share this information with Ouray County residents in case the United States Postal Service doesn’t recognize your rural street address as being valid. I am now able to contact Rep. Hurd via his website (and receive a reply) by entering the above City of Ouray address. Constituents are also able to leave a voicemail (if a staffer is unavailable to answer the phone), though you may not receive a reply when calling.

In our representative democracy it is vital that all constituents have easy access to their representatives so we can voice our concerns, comments and needs. I hope this information is helpful to others who may experience the same difficulty due to the rural nature of many of our street addresses in Ouray County.

Ashley Unverferth

Ouray