Format a Voter Label for a DYMO Printer

This topic explains how to format a DYMO 30321 label for printing via the Voter Label button on the Schedule Document Printing dialog. The Voter Label feature lets you print a single voter label directly from the voter's record. If your system uses the option VOTER FOCUS ADMIN > System Options > County Uses Voter Labels, a voter label is printed automatically whenever you print a voter information card (provided that the Voter Label program is running on your workstation).

Voter labels are not address labels; they are typically used as filing labels in the elections office. The size is 1.4 x 3.5 in.

In addition to defining the format of the label, as described below, you also need to set up your system to support printing of voter labels.

  1. Go to PRINTING > Document Maintenance.

  2. On the Select Document dialog, scroll down the list until you see the document Voter Label. Click Select Document.

Note:  A document named Voter Label with a notice type of 7 should already be set up in Document Maintenance. If you do not see this notice in the list, contact VR Systems.

  1. On the Document Maintenance dialog, the settings should look like those shown here, with the exception that your DYMO LabelWriter might have a different printer name.

Note:  The value in Number of Labels Required does not apply to voter labels. Only one label is printed per print command.

If a DYMO LabelWriter is not selected on the Printer Info tab, click Change Printer and, on the Windows Print dialog, select the DYMO printer where you want the voter labels to print. Click Properties and verify that Orientation is set to Landscape and Paper Size is 30321 Large Address.

Note:  The label printer must be set up in the system to appear on the Print dialog. For setup instructions on DYMO 400 LabelWriters, see this document in our User Community:

Setting Up a DYMO 400 LabelWriter with Voter Focus
For instructions on setting up the DYMO 330 LabelWriter or another brand of label printer, contact VR Systems Customer Support.
Note:  The printer selected here can be overridden at print time by the printer selected in PRINTING > Voter Label > View > Options > Printer Controlled by the Program.

  1. On the Specification tab, click Label Layout. On the Label Layout dialog, verify that the fields contain the settings shown below and click OK.

  1. On the Document Maintenance dialog, click Form Layout. On the Document Layout for Voter Label dialog, the objective is to select the database fields you want to appear on the label and to specify their position and font attributes. The fields currently selected for the label are listed in the upper-left pane.

The exact settings for this example layout are:

Field Name

Description

Top

Left

Font Settings

Regn Code

Voter registration ID

0.01

24.00

Arial 10 pt.

VoterNameLMF

Voter name in last-middle-first format

1.50

0.00

Arial 11 pt. underlined

ResidenceProt

Voter's residential street address if not protected; otherwise Protected

4.00

2.00

Arial 10 pt.

ResCtyStProt

Voter's residential city/state/zip if not protected; otherwise Protected

5.50

2.00

Arial 10 pt.

BirthDate

Voter's date of birth

9.00

1.00

Arial 10 pt.

Party

Voter's party code

9.00

24.00

Arial 10 pt.

The fields selected above—along with the settings in the previous steps—will produce a label formatted like this:

Note:  If you use the address fields ResidenceProt and ResCtyStProt, when the voter's address is marked as private, you will see the text Protected on the label rather than the address.

To add these fields to the layout:

  1. Be sure the Field Type is Database.
  2. Click New.
  3. Highlight the field in the Database Field Name pane.
  4. In the Page Printer Layout box, enter the physical starting points for the field in the Top and Left fields.
  5. Click Save. The field name will appear in the upper-left pane following the two numbers you entered for the top and left starting points.
  6. To change the typeface or other font attributes of a field in the layout, highlight the field in the Database Field Name list, click Font, and choose the settings you want. The font attributes for the field highlighted in the upper-left box are shown at the bottom of the Page Printer Layout box.

  1. When you have selected and formatted all fields for the voter label, click Close.
  1. Check the layout of the fields on the label by clicking Print Alignment on the toolbar. The Windows Print dialog shows your default Windows printer. Select the DYMO printer you specified on the Printer Info tab or another label printer loaded with the same label size and click OK.

The label will print from the selected printer. In place of live voter information, you will see something like this:

  1. Start or restart the Voter Label program. Go to View > Options and verify the printer specified in step 3 is selected in Printer Controlled by the program. Then click Restart Processing.

You are now ready to print a voter label from a voter's record.