Voter database

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 This article does not cite any references or sources. (May 2008)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

A voter database is a database containing information on voters for the purpose of assisting a political party or an individual politician in their Get out the vote (GOTV) efforts.

In most countries, the election agency makes the voters list available to all campaigns soon after the election campaign has begun. Campaigns can then merge this information with the other data they have collected on voters over the years to create their database. Often basic information such as phone numbers and postal codes are not included on the voters list, and the campaign will have to procure this data as well.

The United States has no state or federal election agency, and thus no central lists. In 2002, the United States Congress passed HAVA, the Help America Vote Act. HAVA required that each state compile an official state voter database by January 2006. Most states complied with HAVA by gathering the voter files available from each individual county. States decided what information to include, what restrictions to place on the use of their voter database, and how much the database would cost. In the United States, several companies have merged state voter information with commercially obtained data to create comprehensive voter databases that include a plethora of personal details on each voter. These companies often provide United States Voter Files to statutorily permitted or otherwise non-restricted users.

[edit] Uses

The voter database is central to many parts of a campaign:

  • Fundraising: The database can determine who should receive fundraising direct mail or telephone calls. These letters and calls can be tailored to reflect the issues and concerns of each potential donor. Past donor history, support for related advocacy groups, magazine subscriptions, and consumer behaviour can all be used to find likely donors and maximize the returns of any fundraising efforts.
  • Recruitment: As with fundraising, databases, especially those with detailed past election behaviour, are essential to recruiting volunteers and also finding locations for lawn signs.
  • Issue tracking: A campaign can track how a certain issues are perceived across geographic and demographic lines and can show how to adjust the campaign's message for different audiences. By databasing all incoming telephone calls and e-mails as well as entering petitions and supporter lists from advocacy groups and NGOs (Non-Government Organizations) one can closely track how issues are followed by the electorate.
  • Get out the vote: One of the most important parts of a modern campaign is the campaign to ensure one's own supporters go to the polls on election day, and databases are central to this. A successful voter identification campaign requires connecting with a significant portion of the electorate and recording how they are going to vote in a database. On election day this information needs to be given out with accurate contact information for each voter so that they can be pulled to the polls.

[edit] Voter information

Personal data frequently included in a voter database:

  • Name
  • Physical address
  • Mailing address
  • Phone number
  • Party membership or affiliation
  • Voting history (including federal, sub-national, primary, municipal, or special election voting history)
  • Absentee or military voter designations
  • Source of voter registration, i.e., DMV/MVA, Public Assistance Office, etc.
  • Ethnicity or race
  • Gender
  • Birth date or age range

Data that may be added via commercial routes:

  • "Extreme voters" status (voters who vote very frequently)
  • Homeownership
  • Hunting or fishing license holders
  • Boat owners
  • Occupation such as physical therapist, teacher, etc.
  • Charitable or political contributions
  • Magazine subscription status

[edit] Voter database management software

The use of voter databases has been established in political campaigns from local school board to national elections:

In the 2004 presidential election in the United States, the Republican Party used the Voter Vault platform and the Democratic Party used DataMart. (Democrats call their database "Demzilla".)

In 2005, the British Conservative Party used the Voter Vault software to assist them in the 2005 General Election. Britain's Labour Party uses similar but proprietary software named "Labour.contact" to store voter records. The software enables party staff and activists to cross-reference basic data from the electoral register with information gained through canvassing such as contact details, voting intentions and issues of the day which are of particular concern to each voter.

In Canada, the Conservative Party of Canada uses the Constituent Information Management System (CIMS), originally developed by the same company which produced Trackright, which the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario, uses to manage voter information. It is similar to the Voter Vault software. The New Democratic Party uses their own custom database system called NDP Vote. The Liberal Party has no centralized system, with different ridings using various systems.

The availability of voter files sometimes creates a need for voter list management software as opposed to, for example, using Excel spreadsheets. Political campaigns generally have three options:

  • Write-their-own software: A political campaign may choose to build their own database management system to handle their voter registration files. This may be accomplished in a spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel. This method can be time-consuming and require a certain level of technology know-how, but may be the only option for certain campaigns.
  • Desktop-based software: A variety of companies provide voter list management software for a desktop or laptop computer. Generally, this type of software is distributed on a per-computer basis and can therefore be expensive for larger campaigns. However, desktop-based software is easier to use than create-your-own and can provide many integrated, helpful solutions for political campaigns such as walking list generation, computer-based phone banking, and more.
  • Internet-based software: Many companies provide online voter list management software. Internet-based software has many of the same benefits of desktop-based software, and has the additional advantage of being accessible from any computer (Windows, Mac, or Linux) with an Internet connection. Internet-based software helps campaigns eliminate the need for large campaign offices with central computer and phone banks.