Page | 1

www.dflvictory.com

Prepared and Paid for by the Minnesota DFL Party, Ken Martin Chair, www.dfl.org

Printed In House, Labor Donated. Updated July, 2013

Page | 2

Table of Contents

3. Overview of the Voter File

5. Logging-in

5. Main Menu

6. Quick Look Up

7. Voter Profiles

9. Create a New List

11. Working with a List

15. Working with Saved List/Searches

18. Cutting Turf

22. Creating Canvassing and Call Sheets

24. Mailing Labels

25. Exporting Lists/Data

26. Data Entry

27. Grid View

28. Script View

29. Bar Codes

31. Refining Search

Page | 3

Overview

The DFL Voter File is the primary resource for the Minnesota DFL, local party units, and DFL campaigns for all voter contact activities (phone calls, door-knocking, mailings, direct communications, etc). Additionally, coupled with the Voter File is My Campaign which is designed to efficiently manage volunteers and volunteer activities.

As a true grassroots system, the Voter File enables DFL party units and campaigns to benefit from each other. If one campaign or party unit finds a bad phone number and marks the

number bad, no one else will waste time calling a bad phone number. If one campaign or party unit collects new contact information to more efficiently contact a voter all other campaigns and party units benefit from that information. Additionally, when party units and political campaigns identify a new voter as a DFLer or Republican all other committees benefit from that information. With the Voter File, all campaigns are capable of working together by sharing their voter ID’s to better target their valuable resources.

It is much more efficient for us to all share a common database of people, in a well-

designed web-accessible system, than for each group to try to maintain its own

data. The major benefits are obvious:

• Data is kept in a commercial system, in a reliable secure data center. • Contact changes made by any committee is also available to all other committees

automatically • The Voter ID’s for one campaign benefit all other campaigns, enabling better targeting and

allow campaigns to better utilize their resources. • All data entered improves party ID information for all committees

• The common database also supports professional commercial bulk email • Systems for easy communication with our activists.

*No single campaign or party unit can create a complete list of information about voters in their territory, with the voter file EVERYONE BENEFITS WHEN EVERYONE WORKS TOGETHER.

Understanding the Voter File and My Campaign

Committees: The Voter File is divided up into many committees where each party unit and campaign has it’s

own private committee for tracking information. Every Committee has it’s own private My

Campaign database for tracking volunteer and donor information and within My Voters activist

codes for Lawnsigns and Donor information as well as notes. Survey questions, however, are

shared across campaign committees share districts1 to facilitate joint field programs and voter

outreach between campaigns.

1 Except pre-endorsement. Pre Endorsement, no data is shared between pre-endorsed candidates.

Page | 4

My Campaign is NOT the Voter File! The most important thing to understand is that while My Voters and My Campaign look similar

and have similar tools, they operate on a different set of people, they are for different purposes

and users may have access to one or the other or both.

When you log into the DFL Voter File, if you have access to both systems, you will see “tabs”

at the top of the page to switch from one system to the other. The My Campaign section is

beige while the My Voters section is gray; to provide an additional visual cue for which system

you are in.

Who’s in there?

My Voters contains the complete list of all the registered voters in Minnesota. The voter lists

come from the Secretary of State’s Registered Voter list and compiled to included updated

phone numbers, USPS change of address information, consumer data, voter ID’s, and other

information. The Voter File’s My Voters database is designed for direct voter communications,

voter targeting, and tracking candidate and issue support.

My Campaign begins as a blank database and contains only the individuals you add to the

database. Individuals in My Campaign can be anyone living anywhere in the world. Your My

Campaign database is designed to be “built” by your committee to serve as a private repository

of key activists, volunteers, and/or donors. In so doing you have a significant amount of

flexibility in modifying your My Campaign database from creating Volunteer Activities and

Calendar Event Types, to Contribution Sources and Organizations.

Obviously most people in My Campaign are also in the Voter File. In fact, as you add people to

My Campaign, you will be given an opportunity to match them to the Voter File, and if there is

a match, all their Voter File contact information will be added as well. However, because your

My Campaign is a private database for every committee in the Voter File when My Voters is

updated against address changes and the Secretary of State’s voter rolls your My Campaign

database will not be updated. For this reason you should use My Campaign to track individuals

your campaign or party unit has an ongoing relationship with so that when their contact

information. Do not to use My Campaign for voter contact efforts because once a

person is entered into My Campaign their contact information will not evolve as

their contact information changes.

Who can see the information? Information in My Campaign for a committee is only visible to people who are on the

committee AND who have been granted My Campaign access, which is separate from Voter

File access.

Everyone who has access to a committee can see the contact information for everyone in the

system, including email, and activist codes, etc. In addition to this shared information, each

Page | 5

committee has “private” codes that are visible and available only to that committee’s users.

Any activist code that is private to a committee is not and will not be shared with any other

committee.

Logging In to the Voter File

Go to the Minnesota DFL Party voter file website: www.DFLVictory.com

Sign in with your username and password

which will be provided for you by the DFL

Voter File Manager. The first time you log in,

the program will prompt you to change your

password. Every 30 days, you will again be

prompted to change your password.

***Do Not Share Your Username and/or

Password. It is important for maintaining security of the system***

After changing your password, you will be

asked to provide your contact information

(Name, address, telephone number, email

address, etc.) Once saved, click on Main

Menu to bring you to the Main Menu of the

Voter File.

This is the Main Menu. This is the

screen from which you will base everything

and the screen which you will launch all

your Voter File applications: to look up a

voter’s information, create lists of voters,

access your saved lists and enter data.

The main screen is divided into three main sections in columns from left to right:

Administrative, Pulling Information from the File, and Date Entry. The Administrative Section

where you can change your personal information and password, send an email to the Voter File

Administrator if you are experiencing difficulties etc. The Center Column provides access to

pull information in the File. Finally, the right column is for data entry.

Page | 6

Quick Look Up

This feature allows you to lookup an individual voter. You can search by name, phone, Vote

Builder ID, address, city, zip code, phone number, email, and/or county.

This example is a quick look up for the name “Ken Marin.” Type in the information you’d like

to search on and click “search.” This search yields the following results. Note that if the “Use

SmartName

search

technology” box

is checked, the

program will

automatically

return other

possible

variations of

names (i.e. “Bill”

will also return

Billy, William,

Wiley, etc.)

At this point,

you can click on

the “Ken

Martin” for

Page | 7

which you were looking to bring you to the voter’s profile page. Or you can enter/change data

to refine your search. If you’ve found who you are looking for, click on the name of that

individual.

Voter Profiles

This page shows you all the information we have on any given voter. Clicking the plus sign next

to each section will expand the window to allow you to view that data. If you want certain

windows to always be open, click the plus signs and then select save page layout at the bottom

of the right hand column. You may have multiple data fields open at one time. Once you are

comfortable with the layout of the data you are viewing, click “Save Page Layout.” Every time

you open a voter’s profile, the page will load with these data fields automatically open for you.

Page | 8

Voter Profile: Field Descriptions

Addresses: You will see the voter’s address and have the ability to mark it as bad if you know

that voter has moved. When marked bad, the old address of that voter is suppressed so that

we no longer send mail to that address. Selecting Get Map pulls up a map of where the address

is located.

Salutation: This is how a voter is addressed on envelopes. Changing the salutation is as

simple as typing in the name by which that a voter would like to be addressed. As this is for

mailing purposes to that voter, we must always be respectful of what a voter would like to be

called!

Polling Place: Polling location for the particular voter. Polling locations are updated at least

twice yearly to make sure they are up to date. Leading up to Precinct caucuses polling

locations reflect a voter’s DFL Caucus location.

Phones: On the file we have the capability of adding multiple phone numbers. Just select from

the drop down menu the type of number you want to enter from the following: Home, Work,

Cell, Fax, or Main. Type in the number, and click “Save New Phone.”

Email: Multiple email addresses can be associated with a single voter at a time, however only

the email address marked with an asterisk (*) can be mailed at a time. To add a new email

address, simply type the address in the blank and click “Save New Email.” If an individual

unsubscribes from receiving an e-mail from your committee the drop-down bar next to the

address will change from “Can Email” to “No Private.” Unless you hear from that individual

that they would like to receive your e-mails again do not edit the email status as it violates the

Federal CAN-SPAM law.

Activist Codes: Activist Codes are yes/no questions that voters are assigned in the file.

Voters are assigned these codes based on their party activities, issues/constituencies, and

volunteerism. Examples include: 2006 Donor, 2008 Caucus, 2006 Volunteer, etc. These are

important on the file because they play a part in determining the voter’s “Likely Party” rating

(see below).

Survey Questions: On the file we have access to voters’ responses on survey questions that

they have been asked via phone banks, and canvasses. The questions concern issues, candidate

support, party identification, etc. Responses to party identification questions feed into the Likely

Party rating, as well as specific candidate support responses. For example, if a voter responded

that they were Strongly supporting John Kerry for President in 2004, we would enter their

response to that question on the file, which adds 25 Democratic points to the voter’s likely

party score.

Page | 9

Contact History: This is a way to keep track of the times committees have made contact

with voters and is updated when Survey question responses are data entered to the file.

Blast E-mail: This tracks all Blast E-mails sent by your committee. This tracks what e-mails a

voter has opened, clicked through, etc.

Voting History: Provided by the Secretary of State, this is a record of a person’s voting

history. A designation of “P” means that the voter voted at the polls. An “A” designates an

Absentee vote. An “M” indicates that the voter voted via mailed ballot.

Absentee Voting: This allows us to track who has requested an absentee ballot and if that

ballot has been mailed to the voter and returned by the voter.

Notes: A note is information you can provide about a voter that is only seen by other

members of your committee. In this way, campaigns can share information about voters

privately. Examples would be notes about a voter’s donor history with your candidate, a

conversation letter to the editor, best times to call voter, etc.

Virtual Town Halls: Tracks who attended conference calls created through the Voter File.

VAN ID: “Vote Builder ID” This number is assigned to every voter on the Voter File and is

unique to each individual voter. This will never change for a voter once they are on the file, and

it is a consistent way of keeping track of registered voters on the Voter File.

Vital Stats: Provided by the Secretary of State, this is the vital information we know about

voters. Because we are only provided with the year of voters’ date of birth, every voter on the

file has a designated birth date of January 1st.

Likely Party: This rating is the basis by which we are able to assign a voter a party

identification and target voters by their party identification on the Voter File. The rating is

based off of point values assigned to specific survey responses and the Activist Codes assigned

to voters. Likely Party is not a registered political party because in Minnesota do not register

to vote by political party. Instead Likely party is our basis to predict how likely a voter is to

vote a straight ticket.

Districts: This information is entered automatically by the VAN program. It is geographically

based from where a voter lives, or their “Voting Address.” It includes designations of County,

Precinct, Municipality, Congressional District, Senate District, Legislative District, School

District, and Ward.

Also in Household: This is the information we have on other household members of voters.

This includes the information we have on file of any other registered voters within the same

Page | 10

household. Clicking on the hyper link with a voter’s name will bring up that person’s Voter

Profile page.

Create a New List

Using this feature, a user is able to create lists of voters using any or all of the following criteria:

location, canvass status, districts, age, gender, registration date, vote history, issue and

candidate IDs, activist codes, with or without phone, etc. Again, to customize the page layout

to open the same way every time you come to this page, open the fields you want open every

time and click “Save Page Layout.”

Detailed information for each of the sections on the Create a New List page can be found on

the page itself by scrolling the mouse over the buttons. Generally speaking, search criteria is

selected on the Create a New List page one of the following ways:

• Drop-Down Boxes – Many of the choices available when creating a list

are available from a drop-down box, where the user can choose one particular

option – one county, one zip code, one month, and so on. If a user initially selects

one option and later wants to either change that choice or leave box blank

altogether, click on the drop down box and select the blank space at the top.

• Pickers – In many cases, the VAN offers users the option of choosing

multiple counties, legislative districts, and so on using a “picker.” When the user

has the option of selecting multiple choices that choice is underlined and bold

(e.g., County or Activist Code).

• Additional Options – In many cases, when you choose one option, more

options that are not initially visible appear. In this way, the VAN provides only

relevant search options. For instance, initially you will not see a precinct option

for the search, but once you choose a county, the screen refreshes and the

precinct options appear for that county.

• Free-form Text Box – In some cases, a user will have the option to input

unique text to search under. When this occurs, the VAN will search the database

for words similar to the user entered criteria.

Page | 11

Search by Location

To create a list of voters based on location, a user may search by media market, county,

municipality, street name,

and number, zip code,

and/or any combination of

these.

To select a single county,

click on the arrow to view

the drop-down box. Then

use the scroll bar to find

the county and click on it.

To select one or more

counties click on “County.”

This will open a screen that

lists all the counties

available to the user, where he or she could select any or all of the counties to include in the

search by checking the box beside the name of the county. After making the desired selections,

click save, to return to the previous “Create a List” screen.

After making a selection the user has the option to narrow a search further by precincts, cities,

street names, or zip codes within the county selected.

Search by Districts

Lists may be created based on congressional, senate, legislative, and/or school district. The

process is the same as searching by location.

Page | 12

Search by Survey Questions

To create a list using responses to survey questions, select one (using the drop-down box) or

multiple (by clicking on Question) survey questions.

Now the user can build a list based on one or

multiple survey responses by checking the

boxes beside the responses.

Additionally, the user can narrow the list by input type (how the data was entered into the file:

barcode, bulk, upload, smart phone, purchased, etc.); contact type (call, walk, bulk mail, paid ID,

etc.); entered by (individuals on the user’s committee); date canvassed (when the response was

received); date entered (when the response was entered into the system); and or by committee

(includes all the responses entered into the system by all the members of the chosen

committee).

“Include most recent response only” will exclude voters from your list that meet your criteria if

they answered the same question at a later date with a different response. This is useful when

follow-up ID’s have been made for undecided voters.

Search by Activist Codes

Activist Codes are similar to Survey Questions, but are yes/no rather than multiple option

responses. Voters are assigned to an Activist Code. (Examples include: Donors, Caucus,

2004 Volunteer, 2004 Green Party ID, etc.)

Search by Notes

Users may search by and create lists based on Notes. Therefore, it is useful to develop

standard ways to input notes within a particular committee.

Search by Absentee Voting

Due to Minnesota Law absentee voter lists are not available until after the election cycle.

Therefore this feature does not current work in Minnesota.

Search by Likely Party

A voter is assigned Democratic, Republican, and Independent “party points” when he or she

answers survey questions, attends a caucus, volunteers on a campaign, makes a donation, if he

or she is an elected official, party officer, runs for office, etc. The amount of points assigned for

each of these actions differs. For example, being an elected official, party officer or a candidate

earns far more points than someone who responds to a survey question and is ID’d as a

Democrat.

Page | 13

There are eleven possible “Likely Party” types that a

voter may be placed in – Strong Democrat, Leaning

Democrat, Independent Leaning Democrat, Swing,

Independent Undecided, Independent, Independent

Leaning Republican, Leaning Republican, Strong

Republican, Unknown and No Data. Assignment to a

group is determined using a point and percentage

formula. Below is the outline of how the points would

be calculated: • If a voter has 100 or more total points

AND more than 80% are Democratic points, he or she

is marked as a Strong Democrat.

If the voter has between 25 and 99 total points AND more than 60% are

Democratic points, then they are Leaning Democrat. In addition, if a voter has

100 or more total points AND his or her Democratic percentage is between 60%

and 80%, that voter is also Leaning Democrat.

If both the Republican and Democrat percentages are less than or equal to 60%,

and the total points are greater than or equal to 25, the voter is marked as

Independent.

The same tests are applied for the Republican points in order to calculate the

Strong Republicans/Leaning Republicans.

If a voter has total points between 1 and 24, they are marked as Unknown.

If a voter has 0 points, they are marked as No Data. Note that this is different

than Unknown, as Unknown indicates that we know something about that voter,

just not enough to make a guess.

This is a model designed to help determine a voter’s likely preference. It should be used as a

guide when creating lists of voters to target, and should be used in conjunction with other

criteria to create the best list for a user’s goals.

Search by Sex

The default for a search is men and women. To search for only men or women, select one or

the other.

Search by Phones and/or Emails

To include ONLY those voters that match the criteria selected and have phones or email

addresses on the file, select Phone Only and/or E-Mails Only.

Page | 14

Search by Name

Users can create lists by first name and/or last name. Note that the search will return possible

variations of the name unless the user specifies not to by checking “Search for exact name”.

Search by Suppressions

“Include Deceased” and “Include Bad Addresses” are used very rarely. These include

suppressed voters allowing you to find ALL of the registered voters in the file, instead of having

deceased voters and voters with bad addresses disappear completely. This is especially

beneficial if you are trying to track down "missing" voters.

Searching on “Walkable Voters Only” will allow you to filter in or out “Non-Apartment

Dwellers”. If you want your list to exclude voters who live in apartments, select “Walkable

Voters Only”. If you want ONLY voters who live in apartments, run a search based on the

location, then remove from your list “Walkable Voters Only”. That will leave only voters who

live in apartments in your list.

Search by Voting History

Lists may be created using voter’s Voting History. In addition to whether a voter actually

voted, lists can be created by whether a voter voted at the polls or by absentee.

To search by specific elections, use

“Include anyone who voted in “ANY /

ALL” of the following,” then put a check

mark beside the Elections you want to

select.

To search on combinations of elections,

use “Include anyone who voted in “at

least / exactly / no more than” *enter a

number*of the following,” then put a

check mark beside the Elections you

want to select.

Blast Email

If your committee is using the Blast email feature through Vote Builder you can search based on

the emails that your committee has sent. Searches can include date ranges for when emails

were read, how often emails were read, when individuals unsubscribed etc.

Page | 15

Canvass Status

Canvass status allows you to search based on voter contact history. This is especially useful for

canvassing where houses that are inaccessible can be removed from a list or removing people

who your committee has recently canvassed or

marked as hostile. Canvass status is also where

mailings are tracked.

Committees who want to track to whom and when

mailings are sent save the VAN ID numbers from the

mailing list you pull (see pulling lists) and send the list

to the Voter File administrator or your regional Field

Directors. Tracking mailings just like tracking calling

and canvass results enables committees to constantly

improve their targeting and persuasion methods.

Working with Saved Lists and Searches

To access saved lists or to share folders with

other individuals in your committee first open the

View My folders section off the main page of

Vote Builder. Then select the folder you would like to edit of view.

Users may also “save searches” (the search criteria chosen to create a list of voters), this is

useful for regular searches and or very complex searches.

First…select your universe

Page | 16

Select “Saved Search (Dynamic set of Criteria)

Create a new file folder and name

Page | 17

You can then edit your list by adding a step.

Working with Folders and Saved Lists

To share lists with other members of your committee in the Voter File first select the list and

save in the folder you want to share with others in your committee. Then select the folder you

want to share.

Then select “Edit Folder” to edit who has access to the lists in your folder.

Page | 18

Assign your team to use your folder

Use a Map to Cut Turf

The “Cut Turf” feature in the VB allows the user to divide a list up into groups of

voters in a geographic area and the tool is primarily intended for cutting canvassing

turf. Besides canvassing, the Cut Turf module is especially useful for creating lawn

sign lists and selecting individuals in a geographic region for House Parties or other

events where the goal is to invite individuals nearby. To access the “Cut Turf” feature

you must click on “Cut Turf”

when you have your desired list

open. *Note, in order to cut turf,

your list must contain 5,000

households or fewer.

Page | 19

Turf Cutting Map

The Cut Turf module applies individual

voter’s geo-coded address over Google

maps. And has the added bonus of

navigating exactly as you would using

Google Maps.

In the upper right hand corner of the

map, there is a legend to help you keep

track of assigned and unassigned voters.

As you assign voters to a particular

group or “walk” the number of

unassigned doors will drop.

Several more tools are located on the left side of the screen.

The first set includes 3 choices:

Browse Map: Choose this tool if you want to click on the map and move it around on

your screen instead of using the Google tools.

Draw Turf: This is the tool that you will use to select groups of voters.

Select Individuals: Click on an individual dot to select specific voters to add to your

walk list.

Show Counts By, affects the numbers displayed in the legend.

Doors: The legend will show the number of doors or houses that you have selected.

Voters: The legend will show the number of voters that you have selected.

Both: The legend will show both numbers of doors and voters in a (10/22) format. The

first number indicates doors.

The other tools will be used to cut the turf and save your walk lists.

Step 1: Create a list

Step 2: Click on “Cut Turf” to view your map

Step 3: Divide your voters into groups that make sense to

walk

Step 4: When you are finished cutting turf, save your

mapping region and lists

Page | 20

Step 5: Go to “View My Folders” to find your folder with

mapping region and lists

Step 1: Create a list of voters or other activists that you wish to canvass. The list must be less

than 2000 people total, and for the sake of simplicity, it may be easier to limit your list to 1000

or one precinct at a time.

Step 2: Once you have the list you want and you are looking at the My List page, click on the

“Cut Turf” button near the top of the page. This will produce a map, like the one below. This

is a Google map, and the dots you see represent the voters in that area.

Step 3: Divide your voters into groups that make sense to walk

Make sure that the Draw Turf box is checked on

the left hand side of the screen.

Turf cutting works by using line segments to

connect the dots around a group of voters to select

them.

Begin by moving your mouse to where you would

like to begin drawing, and then click to create your

first marker. Click again to create your second

marker and your line. Continue to draw a line

around the voters and when you have included all

that you want in the first walk, click on the first

marker to close the box or shape. The voters will

turn a different color and they will be counted as

Selected in the Legend.

To save this group of voters, pull down the menu on the left hand side of the screen, select

“Turf 1” and click the “Save” button. If you wish to add more voters, simply select them and

save them as “Turf 1” as well. Turf 1 will be assigned a color.

Page | 21

Select another

group of

uncolored voters

for your second

walk group. Save

these as “Turf 2;”

they will also be

assigned a unique

color. Continue

cutting Turf 3-4-5

and so on until all

of the voters are

selected.

You are finished, click on the button near the bottom left of the screen that says fin

Step 4: When you are finished cutting turf, save your mapping region and lists. After you click

“Finish,” you will be directed to the “Save My Map Region” page.

From here you can save your turf in either a new folder, or an existing folder. Name the

folder, and then name the Mapping Region. This is the neighborhood, precinct, or region

where you were cutting turf. You may also further describe the area if you wish.

Click Save. This will bring you back to your original My List page.

Step 5: To access your saved turf select “View My Folders” on the main menu.

Return to the Main Menu, and click “View My Folders.” Click on the folder where you saved

your Mapping Region. The folder will contain the map you have been working with and each of

the walks you cut, identified as Turf 1, Turf 2, and so on. To print each walk list individually

load each turf to My List to print your walk lists or other reports or select “Print All Lists”

which you can see while viewing folders.

Sample List

The Sample feature allows you to create a random sample of your list. This is especially useful

for sending call lists for polling or any other criteria for which you need a random sample of a

list. Let’s choose 20 for our sample. But first let’s select the sample icon…

Page | 22

The sample feature is useful to pull a random sample of a larger list. Each time you pull a

sample you receive a randomized sample from your larger list.

Creating Canvassing & Call Sheets

The Print feature allows users to print the lists they create as calling or walking lists.

Depending on your needs you can also customize reports in the Reports-Labels accordion tab

in the left column of the Main Menu.

Recently introduced is the ability to PDF reports so that they can easily be e-mailed (or if you

are using an Mac print the report without formatting issues). Creating a PDF report works

exactly the same as creating other reports, only the PDF report is accessed under GOTV

Tools, Turf Packets at the lower right of the Main Menu.

Pulling a Walk List

Select the Print Function.

Page | 23

There are several options on how to sort your list. If you are canvassing, select the “Walking”,

or for phone banking, select “Phoning” from the Source drop down menu You may also use

the drop down menu options to over-ride any sort criteria, to get a more personalized walk

route sort. For a custom list, select the appropriate settings for your project from the sort

order. Ascending will sort the information in order from top to bottom, Descending will sort

bottom to top, and selecting “page breaks” will start a new page each time the category

changes. It is useful to insert a page break for a new street when door knocking, for example,

or by precinct when preparing phone lists for precinct chairs to call within their neighborhood.

To Create a Walk List:

1. Select your Report Format from the 1st drop down menu.

2. Select the script that you will be canvassing from in this drop down box. (The

script is the questions being asked not the words you want volunteers to say)

3. Select the Source. The source automatically sets your sort order. If walking it

causes your lists to print out by street with different pages for each side of the

street. If calling is sets your list to have all the phone numbers to print

numerically.

You can customize whether you want your report packet to include a map with dots indicating

the location of voters or not. You can also choose to have a code that identifies the list you

have created in case you have a loose page and aren’t sure which packet it is from, and can

choose to have page numbers or extra cover sheet instructions for sending canvassers out in

pairs.

Page | 24

Select “Next” when finished.

You have now successfully created a report to print a door-knocking list.

You will then see a screen that tells you how your page needs to be set up. This will vary by

internet browser. Sometimes Firefox and other alternatives to Internet Explorer encounter

formatting difficulties when printing reports. If you have trouble, try Internet Explorer, which is

the default for VoteBuilder.

Simply click “File” and “Page Set Up” to verify that your page is set up like the example page on

the Voter File. Then click, “Finish”.

Pulling a Call List

1. This is similar to pulling a Walk List. Simply click on the “Reports” feature.

2. Select “Calling List” from the Report Type drop down menu.

3. Select the script you will be calling from.

4. Type in a title for your call list.

5. Select your sorts, either by Call Order, or your own criteria.

6. Again, you can designate households by matching phone numbers, or by matching

addresses.

7. Click “Next”

You will again see this screen that tells you how your page needs to be set up. Simply click

“File” and “Page Set

Up” to verify that your page is set up like the example page on the Voter File. Then click,

“Finish” You now have successfully pulled a Call List!

Mailing Labels

Page | 25

The Labels feature allows users to print labels for the lists they create directly from the Voter

File. Printing Labels is preconfigured to print the three most common mailing label sizes (Avery

5160, 5263, and 5264). Depending on your needs your committee also has the option to

create additional label formats which is especially useful for creating name tags, delegate badges,

or any other need that may arise.

Pick the settings you need according to the style of your mailing, and the type of labels your

using, you can then sort the order of your labels in the same way as your Reports. Click,

“Next.”

As with reports, your next screen will walk you through correctly setting your print setting,

after doing so you will be able to print your labels.

The option to create labels specific to your Voter File committee is accessible from the left

hand column of the Main Menu under the Reports - Labels accordion tab. There you can select

one of nine label formats and layout labels exactly as you would like them to appear. Including

displaying survey question and activist code results on the labels.

Exporting Lists

Every Voter File committee has limited

ability to export lists for internal use only.

Depending on your level of access in a

committee you may not have the option to

export lists. Only individuals authorized by

a candidate or campaign manager or party

unit chair or associate chair--depending on

the committee you have access to-has the

ability to export a list.

There are different ways to export, and the

first page explains the options. Choose the

option best for your needs, and click,

“Next.”

Page | 26

In most cases you will want to select “Householded Mailing Lists” when exporting a list,

especially when starting a mailing.

Exporting a Householded Mailing List gives you the same options as creating mailing labels.

Additionally you have the option to “Exclude any uncertified USPS addresses” and out of state

mailing addresses. If you are sending a mailing be sure to select these options. Doing so will

prevent nearly all the mail that would otherwise be returned by the Postal Service as a invalid

address.

Additionally, as part of ensuring the

Voter File is up to date we cross

reference the entire Voter File against

the US Postal Service’s change of

address database--NCOA database.

After selecting Finish you will be instructed where to find your exported file. Go to the Main

Menu and click on the link that says, “My Export Files.” Some very large exports may take

require you to wait.

After selecting “My Export Files” on the top left of the main menu you have the option to

export any list you have exported within the past 24 hours. After 24 hours a list will no longer

be available to export and you will have to repeat the above steps in order to do so.

Committing Data

Data Collection

For any activity that involves contacting voters,

volunteers, or other individuals to collect

information, the information collected should be

entered into Vote Builder. Using survey questions

and activists codes, you can ask a series of multiple-

choice questions (see Survey Scripts and Survey

Questions) and store that information to particular

voters for later use in your campaign. Additionally,

all information collected either stored as activist

codes or survey questions goes to helps build

individual profiles on party affiliation (i.e. Strong

Dem, Lean Dem, Independent, Lean GOP, Strong

GOP).

There are three primary functions for data entry:

Grid View, Script View and Bar Code Scanning. For

Page | 27

data entry, all options available to you are listed on the right side of the screen under Load

Data.

NOTE: Both Grid View and Script View DO NOT require walk sheets or call

sheets to be in paper. Bar Code Scanning does rely on printed walk/call sheets

NOTE: Activist Codes and Survey Questions can also be entered by looking up the

individual voter

Grid View

Grid View Data entry is a way to enter data from canvassers and phone banks on to the VAN

directly without use of a barcode scanner.

Step 1: Click on “Grid View” from the VAN main menu

Step 2: Enter in your list number/report number at the bottom left of your walk/call list, or

select the current list in your queue. (all lists produced in a report format generate a list

number in the bottom left corner of the printout)

Step 3: Select your script, canvasser, source and sort order (the same sort order you used

when you printed your original report) and click “Next”

Step 4: Enter in the results of the calls/knocks via the drop down menus provided. Be sure the

script used during canvassing corresponds to the script questions used in the grid view entry.

Step 5: Toggle the appropriate responses and click “Save”.

Page | 28

Script View

Data Entry using Script View is identical to Grid View except, Script View only allows data on

one individual at a time. Where Grid View and Barcode Scanning are ideal for entering

information on a large number of individuals after canvassing or phoning is complete, Script

View enables a user to enter data while phoning without having to print off call lists.

Step 1: Open a unique list from your “Saved Lists”

Step 2: Click on “Script View” from the Main Menu (you may have to click the right arrow to

find the “Script View” button) option after opening your saved list.

Step 3: Under the “Change Settings” link adjust the script you are using, and the name of the

canvasser.

Step 4: Enter in the results of the canvass and click next.

Page | 29

Bar Code Data Entry

In order to do Bar Code Data Entry you will need a Bar Code Scanner that hooks up to a PC

or lap top computer, via USB connection. Using Bar Code Data Entry is the most efficient

method of uploading data into Vote Builder. Additionally, unlike Grid View or Script View you

do not need to select specific saved lists for data entry, all you need is the canvass pages and a

scanner.

Step 1: Click on “Scan Bar Codes” from the main menu

Step 2: Select the script, canvasser, and the source (calling or walking sheets), and entry order

Click Next.

Note: Entry Order determines if you scan a voter’s name first and then the canvass result

second or if you will scan the canvass result first and then apply that result to all subsequent

voters with the same result. If you have a large list to input it is typically fastest to first choose

“Result First, then Names” and enter all “not home” and “refused” voters first then go back

and using “Names First, then Results” enter your survey results for the individuals that were

canvassed.

Step 3: A list of canvass responses and the corresponding bar codes will appear. You must

first print this page to uses for scanning in results. (Note: Laser jet printers print much better

barcodes and will save you considerable time and difficulty having the barcode scanner read the

barcode.

Page | 30

Step 4: After you have printed the Bar Code Report, click Finish.

Step 5: Begin scanning. If you selected “Names First, then Results” during step 2 scan the

Voter’s barcode on the walk/call list. Then on the Bar Code Report scan all applicable codes

listed on the walk/call list. When you are ready to move on to the next voter scan a new voter

and repeat.

Step 6: Continue scanning until complete. Information is sent directly to the VAN database.

Example 1. Creating a List

Below the title “My List” the Voter File displays a quick overview of counts in your list.

Voters – The total number of individual “voters” that matched the criteria used to create this

universe.

Doors & Mailboxes – “Doors” represents the number of individual doors within that search.

For example, the Smith family has two voters at the door but it will only count as ONE Mailbox

and one door.

“Mailboxes” represents the number of mailing addresses in the list. Some households have

members with different mailing addresses.

Page | 31

Refining a Search

These features

allow the user

to adjust the

created list.

Add Voters –

Running this

search will add

voters to the

current list

Remove Voters

– this search

removes specific voters from the current list.

Narrow Voters – this search focuses on a specific target, based on the additional criteria.