December VoteSource Newsletter

Welcome to the December edition of the VoteSource Newsletter

Missed last month’s edition? Catch up by clicking here.

Or click here to browse all previous editions.

The VoteSource team would like to take this opportunity to wish all VoteSource users a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

This year has been difficult for everyone, but rest assured the VoteSource team have continued to work hard to improve your VoteSource experience and ensure you have the tools to win in the field.

The articles below contain important information on what has been delivered this year. There are also tasks you need to carry out to help get the database ready for the challenges of next year.

2020 Annual Report

Communications

We started our monthly VoteSource Newsletter project in June this year in order to improve communications with end-users in the field.

All VoteSource users with the role of constituency organiser and above now receive this monthly newsletter, packed with hints, tips and latest news. Please let us know what you think.

Merging

Also announced in June, the VoteSource Support team now has the ability to merge records on your behalf. The most likely case users will find is a membership that needs to be attached to its electoral record.

We have been fine tuning this process and hope to soon release this feature in the New Year to more users than just the Support team.

The VoteSource Support team will continue merging all records provided to us. Please ensure you provide us with the name and address for both records in a password protected excel spreadsheet. Please be aware that if both records have current membership, you will need to identify which one is to be resigned so that we can successfully merge. An individual cannot have two current memberships to the same association.

We would request that you send an excel spreadsheet with as many records that need to be matched at one time, rather than individual emails. Due to the sensitive nature of the information, please remember to password protect the spreadsheet in line with GDPR.

Walk Routes update

Following overwhelming feedback from the field, users are finally able to dynamically map streets to their routes and check against the map in Walk Routes – ensuring each route is perfect. Each walk route will also be colour coded to aid in setting up the routes.

The actual creation of a walk route remains the same as before, you name your new route and then assign streets to it. The new feature allows the properties in the streets to appear on the map and as you assign them to your walk route the properties will be marked in a colour indicating this. As you create new walk routes and assign streets to them, they will also be marked in different colours.

The walk routes map for each polling district will also now allow you to view all your created walk routes on one map at once, without having to run a target audience or delivery round and export a map. This will help users plan their campaigning straight from VoteSource, rather than exporting information.

Delivery Routes update

It is now possible to merge streets that cover more than one polling district into a single delivery PDF file. Please note that at present this merge feature is only available via Delivery Rounds.

You will still need to create the walk routes via the relevant polling districts - that is to say if Smith Street covers polling district A1 & A2 you will need to create individual walk routes for A1 & A2 - but by making sure the individual walk route names match, you can merge them to create one delivery round.

When you create your delivery round, make sure you select all walk routes with the same name and as you create your delivery round you will then find the option “Merge walk routes with the same name”.

Once you have generated your Delivery Round, your download option will combine all selected streets into one file.

Inaccessible Properties

If there is an area that is gated or otherwise inaccessible, it is now possible to record this information via delivery rounds data entry.

Once a property is marked as inaccessible it will appear as such on subsequent files, and the number of properties will update accordingly.

Voting Intentions Page update

The voting intentions section of a constituent’s record has been redesigned to properly showcase the timeline of events.

There will now be a timeline directly down the middle of the page with voting information to the right of the line and voting intentions to the left. Every time these pieces of information are added to the record, the date will also be recorded.

We have also changed the way the voting attendance record system works.

There are currently several ways to record whether someone has voted. Like the Marked Register entry, survey entry, connect calling or GTV.

Following this update the only method of entry that counts as fact is through Marked Register data entry.

This removes the risk of a voter misremembering or misrepresenting their voting history and ensures all our data is 100% accurate.

This is very important to bear in mind when looking at the marked register column on canvass cards. Firstly, the marked register history is only displayed for the type of election you are campaigning for. Secondly, only marked register data that has been entered via marked register data entry will count.

VoteSource Support team Christmas holiday timetable

The VoteSource Support team will be on Christmas holidays from 6pm 23rd of December until 9am Monday 4th of January.

During this time, any phone calls will go straight to answerphone. The team will be checking voicemails and emails over the holiday period but will only deal with emergency issues.

We would recommend emailing us if your problem is urgent.

Normal service will resume from the 4th of January, with both members of the team being back on duty.

Our contact details are as follows if you are not already aware:

020 7984 8000

votesourcesupport@conservatives.com

Annual Rollover

The Data Team have begun the process of Annual Rollover. In addition to adding and deleting electors, it reorders the Electoral Roll number of constituents.

So far the data team can report the following:

• 307 annual register files loaded
• 25 annual register files delayed until next year
• 22 annual register files have not been received from local authorities – we are already in the process of chasing them

You can check the status of your rollover within VoteSource. If you click into the Register tile and then click on the next Register tile, the system will display the loaded registers currently available. This is also where you can check if your monthly updates have been applied throughout the year. You will be looking for Annual Register in the top left-hand column for this year’s rollover. Remember - until Annual Register and with Loaded in the far-right status column, your annual rollover has not been applied.

Once your Annual Register has been loaded into VoteSource:

• Please check your register and report any concerns to the Support team, providing examples.

• Improve the matching of records by using the manual match process in the Drop Off section.

To find the Drop Off section from the VoteSource homepage click on the Register tile and then Drop Off.

You can then select the Publishing Authority and the Published Register you wish to match to.

You will be able to select constituents who have “dropped off the register” based on a number of criteria – e.g. Membership, has a specific Voting Intention etc.

The system will allow you to manually match these records to potential records in the system.

Once your first monthly update has been applied post your annual rollover you can no longer use Drop Off for the previous year.

Once the first monthly update has been applied, you should only use the Drop Off section to match records that have split during the monthly update.

You will only be able to merge drop offs for each monthly update until next year’s annual rollover.

If you have any questions, please contact the Support team.

VoteSource Best Practice

As we come to the end of the year, it is worthwhile setting some time aside to go through the following checklist. The more preparation that goes into VoteSource now the less you will need to do as we get closer to the May elections.

1. Have you gone through your user list and checked only current association officers and volunteers have access?

These checks should be carried out regularly throughout the year and are very important. All recipients of this newsletter have the ability and therefore the responsibility of ensuring only approved individuals have access to VoteSource data.

To do this, go to Users, click on Existing Users, you will find lists of accounts recorded by the first letter of their last name. If you find a user account that is no longer required, simply click on their name and then click the Details option. This is found above User Security. The page that loads will contain a Delete Account option.

Please note: You may find a user that you do not recognise, this does not mean they necessarily have access to your data. Remember to check carefully their Electoral Area Permission. It could be that they are a registered elector in your area but have access to another area legitimately. If in doubt, contact VoteSource Support and we will be happy to investigate.

2. Have you checked if your annual rollover register has been applied?

If it has, have you checked the Drop Off section and started matching records to save their data?

If you need guidance on the above, please read the Annual Rollover article in this Newsletter.

3. Have you archived target audiences & delivery rounds you no longer require?

Remember, target audiences & delivery rounds are snapshots of the electoral register when they are created – they do not update with monthly or annual rollover files. If you have created target audiences in 2020 expecting to use them in 2021 you will not be campaigning effectively with up to date electors.

To archive a target audience, go to Campaigns and then click on the Target Audiences tile. You will then be able to search through all available target audiences in the area(s) you have access to. Simply click on the target audience you wish to archive and when it has loaded, select the red tile labelled Finish and Archive.

You can also search for target audiences using the Created by me tile and the Quick search filter.

An important note is that if you subsequently realise you needed a target audience that you have archived, they can be re-activated via the Archived Target tile.

Please do ensure you take some time to tidy up your target audiences. Removing unrequired ones will help organise this section of VoteSource ahead of the important campaign work next year.

Hint: any target audiences you created with the title “test” can probably be archived!