May VoteSource Newsletter

Welcome to the May edition of the VoteSource Newsletter.

Missed our last edition? Catch up by clicking here.

Or click here to browse all previous editions.

Welcome back to the monthly VoteSource Newsletter.

In this edition we are looking at post-election tasks as well as new features. We also have a short feedback survey we would appreciate you take a few minutes to complete.

We have expanded the audience of this Newsletter following recent changes to user roles. Please note, some roles will not have access to all VoteSource features and tasks covered.

Feedback following the May Elections

We have included a short feedback survey for VoteSource following the recent elections. We would greatly appreciate if you could take a few minutes to let us know how you found VoteSource during the campaign.

Your response will be totally anonymous and all information provided will go towards helping your overall VoteSource experience. The survey will be available to answer until 6pm 30/07/21.

Click here for the survey.

Post-elections tidy up of VoteSource

For those who have recently had elections, now is an ideal time to check and tidy up a number of things on VoteSource.

Disable historic user accounts

During any election period, many new user accounts for volunteers, activists and candidates are set up. These are not always required following an election. Please check your user lists and remove any accounts which are no longer required.

This capability is only available to those who can view the Users section on the VoteSource homepage. If you can view this section it is your responsibility to ensure only authorised individuals have access.

Archive target audiences

As readers will be aware, a target audience is a snapshot of the data on VoteSource when it is run. Following elections, you can archive those target audiences which are no longer required. This will ensure that the only target audiences available are those you are using locally for current campaigning efforts.

To archive a target audience, select Campaigns on the VoteSource homepage, then Target Audiences followed by the target audience you wish to archive. Once loaded simply select the red Finish and Archive tile on the right-hand side of the page. This will archive the target audience and end all data entry options that have been activated.

It would be advisable to enter all data still outstanding to your target audiences before archiving. To reactivate an archived target audience, select Campaigns on the homepage, then Target Audiences followed by Archived Target Audiences. Then simply search for the name of your target audience and select Reactivate on the right-hand side of the page.

Enter marked register data

We have amended all user roles so that they can now enter marked register data – you will no longer require the extra role assigned to your account to access this section.

You will still require access to the local authority data to be able to enter marked register data. This is the part of your account setup that appears under “Publishing authorities they can view”. Once this access has been assigned you can enter marked register data.

Merge Feature

As you may have seen in the VoteSource News article posted 17/03/21, it is now possible to merge records in VoteSource.

Occasionally information can become split from its electoral record. This can range from a membership, voting history or contact details. The merge ability now allows you to merge the records back together.

This has been a long-requested feature of VoteSource, and we are pleased to finally be able to bring it to you.

The following user roles now have the ability to merge records back to the electoral register at any time.

• Local – Candidate
• Local – Member of Parliament
• Local – Councillor
• Local – Membership Manager
• Local – Local Administrator
• Local – Constituency Organiser
• Local – Campaign Manager
• Local – National Campaign Staff
• Local – National Voluntary Party
• Local – Field Director

The ability to merge records is available for all areas of VoteSource that allow you to access records: Membership, Donations, User Section and Constituent Search.

All of the above roles have access to Constituent Search and therefore the ability to merge records from there. But access to Membership, Donations and the User Section is dependent on role access.

Users guides are available in the Help Centre on how to merge and can be found at the bottom of the Help Centre under “Merging”.