Want to Instantly Reach Your Representative? There's an App for That!

Telling your representative how you feel about a piece of legislation is as easy as sending a text, thanks to two Chicago-based entrepreneurs.

Paul Everton came up with the idea after several frustrating attempts to contact his member of Congress, Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., about the bailout bill.

"I called five times, got hung up on, got sent to voicemail twice," Everton told Fox News. "I sent a fax and then three months later I got a form letter that just talked about all the bills he had worked on recently."

Everton says he wanted to design an easier way for constituents to be heard.

He teamed up with business partner Jason Pritzker to create "Visible Vote" - an application that works with iPhone, BlackBerry or Android. Best of all, it's free.

During a Sunday interview with Fox News, Everton said it benefits the member of Congress to sign up, saying the application "gives the congressman the power to know exactly what every constituent in his district wants before he votes."

Legislators who have already signed on include Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand D-N.Y., Sen. David Vitter R-La., Rep. Charles Rangel D-N.Y., and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor.

Rangel's was the first legislative office to sign up for Visible Vote.

"Listening to my constituents is one of my chief priorities as a legislator," said the congressman in a written statement. "I'm excited to harness the power of technology to constantly gauge the views and concerns of my diverse community."

Everton says the application, which currently has 175,000 users, "gives the people a chance to voice their opinion on anything."

Communicating with a member of Congress isn't the only feature that Visible Vote has to offer. Users are also alerted when a legislator casts his or her vote.

"Once the vote happens in Washington we send the results back to your phone," says Pritzker. "You can really start to keep tabs on how often your interests are being represented by the people you put in office."

So has Gutierrez, the congressman who inspired the application, joined Visible Vote? "No, not at this time," Everton laughs.