Prepare a File of Voter Addresses for an NCOA Vendor

The Florida statute governing biennial list maintenance allows voter address changes to be supplied by an NCOALINK licensee of the USPS in lieu of a mass mailing. Typically, the NCOA vendor's fee for this service is much less than the postage costs for a mailing.

The complete list of Active and PreReg voters plus address must be submitted to the NCOA vendor (not just those who have had no activity). The exception report returned by the vendor will contain address changes for the entire Active/PreReg-voter roster. Although this is likely to result in more data entry than a mailing, you can be confident that your Active-voter addresses will be as up-to-date as possible for the next election cycle.

The remainder of this topic explains the steps you need to take to create a voter file for delivery to an NCOA vendor.

The procedure described in this section prepares the voter registration database to export as clean a file as possible. This will reduce the number of exceptions reported by the NCOA vendor and thus simplify the processing of the vendor's return file.

  1. Verify all street addresses conform to USPS standards. Check the Street table in your database to confirm that all street names and abbreviations are standardized. For example, Avenue must be abbreviated as AVE in all caps. (If you have questions about the Postal Service requirements, visit:

http://pe.usps.gov/cpim/ftp/pubs/Pub28/pub28.pdf

Note:  This web address was accurate at the time of this writing. If you cannot find this document, please contact VR Systems.

  1. Remove punctuation from voter addresses. Use the FlexRep program to list your voter addresses and scan the list to ensure none contain prohibited punctuation. For example, P.O. Box must be represented as PO BOX.

Voter Focus produces three file formats for export to an NCOA vendor.

 

File Format 1   —   Comma-Delimited Text

This format contains voter data under the following column headers. Notice that the file contains both a residential address and—if the voter has one—a mailing address. If you do not want to validate both addresses, be sure your NCOA vendor knows which address they are to validate. Default ballot addresses for voting by mail are not included in the file.

Registration Number

Last Name

Name Style

First Name

Middle Name

Middle Initial

Street Number

Street Number Suffix

Street Dir

Street Name

Street Type

Street Dir Suffix

Apartment Number

City Name

State

Zip Code

Mailing Address 1

Mailing Address 2

Mailing Address 3

Mailing City

Mailing State

Mailing Zip

Mailing Country

 

File Format 2  —   Time Customer Service

This format contains voter data in the following fields. There are no column headers:

Voter registration number

Voter name in First-Middle-Last format (e.g., Jane Carolyn Doe)

Mailing address if available, otherwise the residential address

City, State, Zip and Country

 

File Format 3  —   Simplified Export for Commercial Printer

This format contains voter data under the following column headers. The mailing address is provided in the Address fields. If the voter has no mailing address, the residential address is used instead. The last eight fields (Party through Ballot_Style) are not needed for NCOA processing and can be deleted from the file before sending it to the vendor.

VoterID

Voter_Name

Last_Name

First_Name

Middle_Name

Name_Style

Address 1

Address 2

Address 3

City

State

Zip

Country

Party

City_Code

City_Ward

Polling_Place

Precinct

Polling_Place_Name

Polling_Place_Location

Ballot_Style

These formats are described in detail in the next section. Different vendors use different file formats, so you should ask your vendor what file format they need before beginning the export. Call VR Systems if you need help adapting the file to meet their requirements.

After consulting with your NCOA vendor to determine the correct file format, use one of the three procedures below to create the file. Check the file to verify it contains valid data and then deliver the file to the vendor.

 

Using File Format 1   —   Comma-Delimited Text

What it does

Creates a comma-delimited text (TXT) file named NCOAExport.txt, which can be imported into a spreadsheet application such as Microsoft Excel.

User permissions needed

NCOAProcessing

NcoaAdministration

Create the file
  1. Go to LIST MAINTENANCE > NCOA Processing > Utility.
  2. On the Options dialog, display the Export/Import Formats tab and select Comma-Delimited Text (*.txt). Click Apply.
  3. Display the CVF/NCOA tab and enter the path name of the folder where you want the export file to be created. Click Apply and OK. Verify that the folder exists on your system; if it does not, create it now.
  4. On the NCOA Processing dialog, click Export Data to NCOA Vendor > Export NCOA Data. This starts the run to create the export file. When the run completes, you will see a message indicating the path name of the export file.
  5. Examine the file to be sure it contains valid data. Remember that the file contains both residential and mailing addresses and that you should advise your NCOA vendor which address they are to validate.

 

Using File Format 2   —   Time Customer Service

What it does

Creates a text file with a fixed-length record layout defined by Time Customer Service, Inc. The file name is NCOAExport.txt.

User permissions needed

NCOAProcessing

NcoaAdministration

Create the file
  1. Go to LIST MAINTENANCE > NCOA Processing > Utility.
  2. On the Options dialog, display the Export/Import Formats tab and select Time Customer Service, Inc  250 fixed length. Click Apply.
  3. Display the CVF/NCOA tab and enter the path name of the folder where you want the export file to be created. Click Apply and OK. Verify that the folder exists on your system; if it does not, create it now.
  4. On the NCOA Processing dialog, click Export Data to NCOA Vendor > Export NCOA Data. This starts the run to create the export file. When the run completes, you will see a message indicating the path name of the export file.
  5. Examine the file to be sure it contains valid data.

 

Using File Format 3   —   Simplified Export for Commercial Printer

What it does

Uses the FlexRep program to create a comma-delimited text file that can be opened in a spreadsheet application. The file name is Exp<YYYYMMDD><HHMMSS>.txt, where <YYYYMMDD> is the creation date and <HHMMSS> is the creation time in 24-hour-clock format.

User permissions needed

FlexRep

FlexRep:Unprotect

Create the file

  1. Go to REPORTING > Flexible Reports and select these options:

Data Source

Output Option

Address Selection

Unprotect Addresses

Voter Register

Simplified Export for Commercial Printer

Mailing Address

selected

  1. Click Run FlexRep.
  2. On the Text Export Options dialog, select Hard Disk as the Output Media. Clear the Zip Output File check box.
  3. In Output File Name, select a location where the file will be created. Click OK to export the file.
  4. Examine the file to be sure it contains valid data. Delete the last eight columns (Party through Ballot_Style) because they are not needed for NCOA processing.