2007-2008 Election Cycle

Training

“Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.”

George Jean Nathan

What is a voter file?

“A voter file is a list of all registered voters in an area. In the US most states compile this list under the organization responsible for elections. It is generally available to candidates for office and political organizations for a fee.” (Wikipedia) What is in the FDP voter file?

Information on the file includes…

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• Voter’s name, including nicknames or salutations • Contact information

o Both voting address and mailing address, if applicable • E-mail address

o Only shared within your committee • Identification Numbers (County, State, VAN) • Demographic Info

o Personal – Gender, Ethnicity, Age, etc. o Voter – Party, Registration Date

• Geographic Information o County o Precinct o Districts (Congressional through School Board)

• Voting History o A – Absentee, E – Early, P – Poll Voter

• Activist Codes o Tags that can be assigned to specific voters indicating support or

opposition to a specific issue, volunteer information, and any other characteristic desired by the state party, the county DEC, or other users

o Activist codes are used for “yes/no” questions o Examples include:

Absentee Voter Military Need a Ride to the Polls Hunting or Fishing License Concealed Weapons Permit

• Survey Questions o Tags that can be assigned to specific voters that are not “yes/no”

questions o Examples include:

Do you think you’ll vote for a Democrat in the next election? (Range of answers from strong Democrat, leaning Democrat, etc.)

What is the most important issue to you this election cycle? (Range of answers include the economy, Iraq, the environment, etc.)

• Contact History o If the voter has been contacted by someone within the

Democratic party who uses the VAN, it will be recorded here. • Absentee and Early Voting

o Turned on during election cycles, shows if and when a voter has requested or returned an absentee ballot or voted early

• Notes How can I access this information?

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For a single voter, use the Quick Lookup System. To start, go to http://www.fdpvan.com. Enter your user name and password to log into your account. If you need assistance logging in, please contact Ben King at the FDP Headquarters at 850-222-3411 or email bking@fladems.com.

Then, select “Quick Look Up”

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Once you arrive at the Quick Look Up screen, input the search criteria. Remember, putting in very specific information will often not yield any results. Search broader.

Select the voter you’re looking for…

and you’ll be taken to the voter’s profile

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Accessing Targeted Lists Working with your county organization and the state party will help you engage in activities that work towards our ultimate goal of winning elections for Democrats. Often, these groups will have specific people with whom they want you to speak. From the Main Menu, select View My Folders

Your DEC will communicate in which folder these targets can be found.

Select your specific target list. For a call list, make sure you’re selecting a list that includes only voters with phone numbers.

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From the Edit List screen, press Load List.

The system will then pull up that list of voters.

(If you have access to more than one precinct, you will need to narrow this list further.) Now you have to decide how you are going to contact these people. First, let’s look at creating a calling list. First, select Reports

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Select “Calling List”

Select the Script you’ll be using

Select the source (calling or walking)

Selecting the source will automatically fill in the sort order boxes below. You can alter these based on how you want your list sorted. Remember that checking "Page Breaks" will put each unique criteria on a new page (taking up more paper).

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After sorting the list, title it.

Make sure the “Print List Numbers and Page Numbers” box is checked

Then press next

You will then be taken to a page telling you how to set up your printer to make sure the list prints properly

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After you’ve followed the directions onscreen, press Finish at the bottom of the page.

You’ll then be taken to your prepared call list. You can now print it out and make your calls.

If you want to create a Walking List, follow the same procedure of accessing your saved lists and pressing report. This time, instead of selecting “Calling List” select “Walking List”.

Again, select the Script that you'll be using and select Walking as the source.

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Remember: If you don’t want a new page for the odd and even sides of a street, uncheck the “Page Breaks” box next to “Odd/Even”

Title the list as before, and make sure Print List Numbers and Page Numbers is checked. Then press next.

As before, you will then be taken to a page telling you how to set up your printer to make sure the list prints properly. After configuring your printer, press Finish at the bottom of the page.

You’ll then be taken to your prepared walk list. You can now print it out and walk your precinct.

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Inputting Gathered Data After you’ve walked your precinct or made your calls, it’s time to put the data back into the system. To do so, select “Grid View” from the Main Menu.

Then you have to select which list you’ll be working off of. To do this, find the list number off of your walking or calling sheets

Select the button next to “Let me select a List Number” and input your list number. Then press Next.

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If asked whether overriding your current list is all right, press “OK”

Once the Grid View page pops up, select the script you used to canvass

Select your name from the list of possible canvassers

Select the date that you canvassed and select the source

Select the source and alter the sort order (if you did so when originally creating the list).

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Then press next

Once you get to the Grid View input screen, select the proper responses from your filled-in sheet

Pressing the back or forward arrows will save the responses on your current page and take you to the page immediately preceding or after the on that you’re on. Pressing “Save” will save the page that you’re on and leave you there.

Thanks for your help in turning Florida blue! If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to give us a call at the party headquarters! Ben King Voter File Director, Florida Democratic Party 850.222.3411 bking@fladems.com

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