Import Data From an ERIC NCOA File

As a member of the ERIC consortium, States are required to provide voter information to ERIC to help improve the accuracy of voter rolls. One of these tasks is to receive, import, and process an ERIC NCOA file, which includes a complete list of voters with Active and pre-registered statuses.

The Division of Elections and FVRS work with ERIC to provide the ERIC NCOA files for counties to process. The files for import to Voter Focus will be sent from FVRS on a quarterly basis in off election years, but not within 90 days of a Federal election. The files must be processed within 90 days.

You must be granted the NcoaAdministration user permission to process ERIC NCOA files.

Below are the steps to import and process the voter information received in the ERIC NCOA file:

  1. Clear Existing NCOA Response Queue
  2. Locate and Import the ERIC NCOA File
  3. Print Errors
  4. Auto-Process Zip+4 Updates From NCOA
  5. Process Address Changes

Clear Existing NCOA Response Queue

We recommend that you clear the queue before importing data to prevent the buildup of any obsolete items.

Go to LIST MAINTENANCE > NCOA Processing > Import and Queue Maintenance > Clear NCOA Response Queue and click Yes to confirm you want to delete existing items from the processing queue. You will see the Deletion of existing queue items completed message when this is done.

Locate and Import the ERIC NCOA File

When the file is received from FVRS, it is automatically downloaded to the following location:

Vr6Sharedbinaries\ERIC\Download\NCOA

The file is in TXT format and begins with the text ERIC. You are not required to validate data or convert the data in the file to another format.

  1. Go to LIST MAINTENANCE > NCOA Processing > Import and Queue Maintenance > Import NCOA ERIC File.
  2. On the Import NCOA Responses from ERIC dialog, click Open Import File.
  3. Browse to and select the file, and then click Open to begin the import.

Print Errors

After the import completes any errors that may have occurred display. To print the errors for your records or reference, click Print Errors.

The following errors are ignored by the system:

  • The move type is not I (Individual), F (Family).
  • The effective date of the NCOA address change is prior to:
    • The last date that the voter's address was updated in the database.
    • The date of the last run of the input processing program in which the same address change was made to the voter's record.
  • Repeats of previously reviewed changes.
  • Voters with a precinct override in their record. These address changes should be rejected during NCOA processing and manually entered in the voter records.
  • Addresses with the prefix HC, such as HC 45 BOX 6625. These address changes should be rejected during NCOA processing and manually entered in the voter records.
  • The value in the NCOA Link Footnote field of the spreadsheet is not A, 00.

Auto-Process Zip+4 Updates From NCOA

See Process ZIP+4® Changes from an NCOA Vendor for instructions.

Process Address Changes

See Process Address Changes From an NCOA Vendor and Process Undeliverable Mail and Third-Party Address Changes for instructions.