Process ZIP+4® Changes From an NCOA Vendor

This topic explains how to process address changes whose only change is addition of ZIP+4 digits to existing five-digit zip codes. The instructions assume you have already loaded data from the NCOA vendor into the Voter Focus processing queue by importing NCOA data from a spreadsheetor data from an ERIC NCOA file.

The ZIP+4 digits are added only if there are no changes to the existing 5-digit zip code. If the 5-digit zip code has changed, the change item will be presented during processing of the remaining items in the queue.

Along with the ZIP+4 changes, the Process ZIP+4 Changes program also schedules an Address Confirmation/Final Notice for any voter who moved without leaving a forwarding address. The notice is sent to the voter's residence address. If the voter has a mailing address, the mailing address is removed.

For each item in the NCOA processing queue, the program looks for items in the NCOA Link Footnote field having the value:

00 (indicating no change-of-address match or that the Zip+4 digits have been added to the zip code). For these voters, the program processes the information in the following the following fields. These fields must contain valid data in order for processing to occur:

• Voter ID
• Zip Code Plus Four
• Effective Date of Move
• Move Type

or

A  (change of address). For these voters, the program examines the New Street Namefield to determine if the field is blank, which means the voter left no forwarding address. If this is the case, the program schedules an Address Confirmation/Final Notice and removes the mailing address, if present.

The changes processed by the Process ZIP+4 Changes program are not presented individually to the user. They are made automatically during the run with no user intervention required. For each change, an entry is made on the affected voter's Audit tab.