March VoteSource Newsletter

Welcome to the March edition of the VoteSource Newsletter.

We are pleased to be back with some more exciting updates about the VoteSource system!

Missed our last edition? Catch up by clicking here.

Or click here to browse all previous editions.

The Member Services Team at Spring Conference!

George and Sam were delighted to be at Spring Conference in Harrogate this year as part of the Member Services Team representing both Membership and VoteSource. We were so pleased to meet many of our users there, and listen to your feedback, assist with your queries, and put many a face to name!

This is just to say we thank our users for their commitment to the VoteSource system, and all feedback and reported issues gathered at Spring Conference have been fed back to the relevant teams for you.

And for all our users unable to attend Spring Conference this year, we would still be more than happy to hear your feedback and concerns relating to the VoteSource system. So please, continue to get in contact with us via email at memberservices@conservatives.com, or phone on 020 7984 8036 (Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm).

Important Upcoming Target Audience Archiving

As we prepare ourselves for the Local Elections in May, VoteSource is undertaking a bit of “spring” cleaning to prepare the software for an influx of new campaigning materials created by our users.

This is a process we undertake periodically to ensure that the system works as smoothly as possible and involves archiving older campaigning materials that are no longer in use or relevant to allow for more space – and so power – on the database for new campaigns.

This process is essential for ensuring that VoteSource works to its best possible capacity for you during your election campaigns.

We can today, therefore, confirm that:

Any Target Audiences created before the 1st of January 2026 will be archived to make way for newer audiences.

This will allow your audiences to be more relevant as any audiences created before the 1st of January 2026 will not necessarily take into account the most recent electoral geography for your area. We would, therefore, suggest running new target audiences at this time to ensure that they consider the most recent electoral register data, and so improve your campaigns effectiveness.

We can also confirm that this target audience archiving process will commence on the 30th of March.

And, we would also like to confirm that alongside this process on the 30th of March, the VoteSource campaigning leaderboard will be reset to include only points gathered since the 19th of March, so as to best reflect the current campaigning cycle.

But, don’t panic if one of your activities is archived and you still need to use it.

To retrieve any Target Audiences you need to, please see the following guide on the VoteSource Help Centre, which details this process step by step:

Target Audience - Retrieving an archived Target Audience - https://votesource.uk/support/helpcenter/viewarticle/257

Exciting new Releases to the VoteSource system

As always, the VoteSource team have been hard at work to deliver exciting new updates and enhancements to the VoteSource system.

We take all your suggestions seriously, and we have been working hard this year to deliver as many improvements to the system as we can, to assist you with your campaigns this year.

That is why we are pleased to announce that the following updates to the VoteSource system have been released since our last newsletter:

• Improved searchability has been developed to allow our users to now be able to search more efficiently by roll-number information through the Constituent Search function.
• A new update for the VoteSource Canvasser App has been released onto the Appstore’s for your devices, bringing with it considerable speed enhancements for our App users, as well as now allowing for TVT codes to be displayed against the constituents you are canvassing. Further exciting App updates are also in development and will be on the way soon!
• Developments have been made to the Report’s section of VoteSource which allow our users to navigate between reports far more effectively by retaining location and date ranges between report sections. This will allow our users to use this section more efficiently going forward.
• The VI Matrix Scoring Algorithm has continued to be fine-tuned since significant changes were made to it in December (please see this article for further details of the original release: https://votesource.uk/support/news/newsview/313). And, we are pleased to announce that this algorithm has now received its full rollout and is being applied to historic VI’s as well.
• Further work has been made to improve the speed and performance of the VoteSource system. This takes place as part of regular work and maintenance, and we are pleased to be able to constantly fine tune the system and so improve our user’s front-end experience.
• And many more enhancements and features have been worked on as well!

We are excited to bring these new releases to you today, and we hope to be able to update you with details on further enhancements for the VoteSource system soon!

Online Surveys; Another Exciting way to reach your electorate!

As we do from time to time, the VoteSource team would like to use this article to draw your attention to an exciting but often underused tool on the VoteSource system; this being:

Online Surveys!

Online Surveys allow our users to take surveys they have already created on the VoteSource system, and attach a URL Weblink to them, so that constituents in the same area can answer the survey without the need for paper campaigning materials or large canvassing sessions.

They can be attached to your association websites, be included on your leaflets, or even be used as part of an email/mail campaign you are running.

All of this means that Online Surveys should be considered an essential part of your VoteSource campaigning arsenal – they bring such a flexibility to your campaigns that they simply cannot be ignored as one of the campaigning tools available to you!

And Online Surveys could not be simpler to create either!

All you will need is your already completed VoteSource Survey, and with this simply navigate to the Online Surveys section of the ‘Campaigns’ tab on VoteSource, and select ‘New Online Survey’:

You would then need to select your already completed survey from the drop-down menu highlighted, and name your Online Survey (as well as complete all relevant fields for your campaign):

And then, finally, select your Online Survey Design Template, fill in all text box fields, and then proceed:

You have now created a new online survey, and the URL weblink will be available as below:

The online survey is now ready to disseminate as you need.

By following these steps, you will now be able to create a new dimension to your campaigns, so why not create a new VoteSource Online Survey today?

Should you need any assistance with creating a survey for your online survey campaign, please see the below section of guides:

Connect – How to Create a Connect Calling Script – https://votesource.uk/support/helpcenter/viewsection/64

And if you need any further assistance with this process, or anything else, please just let our Member Services Team know via email at memberservices@conservatives.com, or phone on 020 7984 8036 (Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm).

We are always more than happy to help!

An Update for all Associations Auditing their Local VoteSource User Base

Following last year’s reminder to Association Officers to carry out regular audits of local VoteSource users and activity, the VoteSource team have been made aware that several user accounts have been deleted as part of this process.

Of course, whilst there are many reasons to delete a VoteSource user account such as an individual no longer needing an account or it being frozen for some time, please refrain from deleting user accounts unless the account in question has not been accessed for a long period of time (1 year or longer).

Instead, please remove the access roles associated with the account, but do not delete the account altogether.

This means that should we need to do an audit of VoteSource use, the account is still available for us to do so. And, it also means that potentially active volunteers who have just changed their role within the association do not need to re-sign up for an account unnecessarily.

Removing Access from a VoteSource User Account

To remove a user role from a VoteSource account, simply click on the User’s name, and then ‘View Advanced Security Details’. This will take you to the screen below, and you can click ‘Remove’ to remove the roles that need to be revoked.

You can also choose to remove all roles, by scrolling to the bottom of the page, and selecting this option:

And please see the below guide, which will assist you with finding all the accounts in your area so that you may monitor their use:

Users – Roles - https://votesource.uk/support/helpcenter/viewarticle/372

Further Information

Please see a snippet of last year’s news article from the VoteSource newsletter concerning monitoring your user base’s VoteSource access below:

And finally, for further information detailing how to get your association’s VoteSource user accounts ready for the May elections, please see Article 5 of last month’s VoteSource newsletter, titled VoteSource User Access.

Campaign Academy Officer Pathways – A Reminder!

During Spring Conference this year, many association officers spoke about their need for newer and more in-depth training materials for them to best understand the VoteSource system.

With this in mind the VoteSource team would like to remind our users of the exciting new training opportunities available within the Campaign Academy Officer Pathway Programme (within which we have worked together with the Campaign Academy to help develop an extensive VoteSource training offering).

Association Chairmen, Deputy Chairmen (Political), Deputy Chairmen (Membership) and Data Protection Officers should have access to this online Officer Training Pathway via Campaign Academy.

You should have received an email from Access Evo and the Campaign Academy explaining how to logon, but if you have not received your sign in link, or if you have any questions about the training, please email campaignacademy@conservatives.com or contact your National Convention Officers for further assistance. We strongly encourage all officers to complete this training at their earliest convenience.

The training has been developed in partnership with National Convention Officers and CCHQ staff and provides tailored guidance, resources and practical tools to support you in your role. Whether you are newly appointed or looking to refresh your knowledge, this is a valuable resource covering essential responsibilities, compliance requirements and best practice.

The Officer Pathways are designed around your role, but include guidance and resources on:

• Roles and Responsibilities – role specific guidance
• Election Law and legal responsibilities
• VoteSource and how to get the most from the system
• Campaigning fundamentals and best practice
• Digital Campaigning fundamentals and best practice
• Financial Compliance and reporting requirements
• Data Protection and GDPR obligations
• Association governance and officer responsibilities

For further information, please see the below:

The Campaign Academy are keen to receive feedback on the training and the resources available, as well as suggestions for any additional support you may find helpful. Please share your views by contacting campaignacademy@conservatives.com.