Last Updated: 12/12/2023

Process Address Changes From an NCOA Vendor

This topic provides instructions for entering address changes from an NCOA vendor into voter records. It assumes that:

The data has been loaded into the processing queue by importing NCOA data from a spreadsheet or data from an ERIC NCOA file.
ZIP+4-only changes have been processed.
The user running the program has an understanding of when to accept, reject, or skip an address change, based on your county's procedures. For more information, see About Processing of NCOA Voter Address Changes.

To process address changes into voter records:

Go to LIST MAINTENANCE > NCOA Processing > Process NCOA Queue > Process Remaining Items in NCOA Queue. The Process NCOA Queue dialog will display the first item in the queue.

Tip: You can view the number of records remaining to be processed in the queue from the List Maintenance tab. The number displays on the NCOA Processing button.
Review the information presented in the dialog. Input from the NCOA vendor is shown in the boxes. The voter's current information in the voter registration database is shown just above the NCOA data. The address change will be to either the residential address or the mailing address.

The Processing Remarks box contains information from the processing program. These remarks typically describe the type of address change, such as Change of In County Residence Address. If the program is unable to validate the change, you will see a message to that effect, such as Unable to validate address in county or out of county.

Here are some of the messages you might see in the remarks area:

Change of In County Residence Address—If you accept the change, an Address Change Notice and voter information card are automatically scheduled along with the address change.

Changing in County Mailing Address—If you accept the change, an Address Confirmation Request is automatically scheduled. You have the option of also scheduling a voter information card.

NCOA in county address does not validate—If you select Print Unresolved NCOA Address Change Sheet and then click Skip for Now. Then research why the item cannot be validated.

Suspending residence address change to new county—If you accept the change, the new address is sent as a suspended third-party address change to the new county. No notices are scheduled in your county.

NCOA address is out of state, scheduling Final Notice—If you accept the change, a Final Notice is automatically scheduled for the new address and the new address is placed in the voter's mailing address. If your county has prepared a notice to be sent to the old address, select Notice to Old Address to schedule this notice along with the Final Notice. (The notice to the old address must be created in Document Maintenance before it can be scheduled here.)

Unable to validate address in county or out of county—If you believe the new address if out of state, click Move Address to Mailing Address to insert it in the Mailing Address fields. (A Final Notice to the mailing address will be scheduled.) Alternatively, you can click Skip for Now with Print Unresolved NCOA Address Change Sheet selected. Then research the address to see if you can determine why it is invalid. If you skip the item, the Unresolved NCOA Address Change report prints to your default printer.

If your research indicates that the address is out of county, select Print Unresolved NCOA Address Change Sheet and click Reject Change. Then process the address change as a third-party address change.

Unable to validate address in county or out of county. New address is for a zip code that occurs in county.—Click This is an in county address to move the new address to the Mailing Address fields. Alternatively, you can click Skip for Now, which prints the Unresolved NCOA Address Change report to your default printer as a reminder that the address needs further research to determine why it is invalid.

Any notices that are required to be scheduled for a change are preselected in the lower left-hand corner of the dialog. They are disabled so they cannot be unselected. Notices that are not appropriate for the change are also disabled. Notices that are optional for this type of change are enabled for you to select if your county's procedures require additional notices.

The steps to take from here depend on your county's procedures, so you will need to obtain guidance from a supervisor. You will choose one of the buttons at the bottom of the dialog to continue through the queue:

Accept Change—Click to enter the change into the voter's record. The selected notices will be scheduled and the address change will be recorded as a third-party address change. In addition, a voter communication of type 5I will be entered into the voter's record. (It can be seen on the Comms tab.) The system will also note the date when this change was accepted, so if the same change comes in a future NCOA report, it will not be presented for consideration again.

Skip for Now—Click to skip this item without taking any action at this time. You'll see a message indicating that the skipped item will reenter the processing queue in two hours for reconsideration. Click OK to display the next item in the queue. The skipped record is locked for two hours to prevent others working in NCOA processing from seeing the same item while you are researching it.

If the remarks indicate that the address could not be validated, an Unresolved NCOA Address Change report will print to your default printer. The sheet shows the voter's current information and the change reported by the NCOA vendor. This information can be useful when researching an unvalidated address.

If you can see what's wrong with an address—for example, it's not formatted correctly—you won't be able to make a change during NCOA processing. Instead, click Skip for Now and then make the address change by going to VOTER REGISTRATION > Record Undeliverable Mail. The address change won't appear again during NCOA processing once the change has been made in the Record Undeliverable Mail.

Reject Change—Click to reject the NCOA change and continue to the next item in the queue. The change will be removed from the queue so that it will not appear again. The system will also note the date when this change was rejected, so if the same change comes in a future NCOA report, it will not be presented for consideration again.

This is an in county address—This button appears with the remarks: Unable to validate address in county or out of county. New address is for a zip code that occurs in county. Press 'This is an in county address' to correct address and process. Click it if you believe the address is probably in the county.