Data Files Sent to FVRS by Voter Focus

This topic describes the files Voter Focus automatically sends to the State system. Files are automatically sent by Voter Focus which runs automatically after midnight every day and for every two hours thereafter.

Counties are required to prepare and transmit to the State three files pertaining to voting by mail and early voting in an election. The Absentee Ballot Request Information file must be sent daily beginning 70 days before an election and for 15 days after the election. The two early voting files (Early Voting Summary and Early Voting Voters List) are sent each day beginning the first day of early voting and for three days after the end of early voting.

Each daily election file is a complete report of voting in the election so far; they overwrite the daily files sent previously.

The three files are transmitted automatically by the Voter Focus program Send Public Files, which runs automatically after midnight every day and for every two hours thereafter. If one or more of these files have not been sent to the State by 8 am during the reporting period, you will see a Send Public Files alert in VR Dashboard (and will receive an email if Alerts Maintenance is set up to send emails for the Send Public Files alert).

  • Vote-By-Mail Ballot Request Information File—Lists county voters who have requested a mail ballot for an election, the status of the request, and other relevant data. Protected voters will be included in these files, with sensitive information such as address, precinct, and district redacted.
Note: In the Candidate File Distribution portal, this file is known as the County Mail Ballot Status File.

This file is automatically created and sent to FVRS daily (overnight) beginning 70 days prior to an election and ending on the 15th day after the election. If a general election is preceded by a primary, a separate file is sent for each election.

The file contains information processed up to close of business on the day prior to the overnight run. Each daily file contains all Vote-By-Mail voters to date, not just new additions. It can contain Vote-By-Mail data for multiple elections. A copy of each file sent to the state is placed in \Vr6Sharedbinaries\FVRSUpload. The file name is <county code>_VBM_<FVRS election number>_<date of run>_<time of run>.

Contents of the file, reading left to right:

Header Description Format
RecordType Vote-by-Mail ballot request status VBM
CountyID County providing summary Char (3) — FVRS code
Voter IdNumber Voter ID number Numeric (10)
ElectionNumber Election identifier Numeric (10)
ElectionDate Date of the election MM/DD/YYYY
ElectionName Name of election Char (35)
LastRecordChangeDate Date the vote-by-mail summary record was last updated MM/DD/YYYY
VoteByMailStatus

C—Canceled by the voter or the voter moved out of county before the ballot was provided to voter

E—Voter error or eligibility issue

L—Returned untimely

N—Unsigned (no signature provided on certificate or affidavit)

P—Provided by any proper means of delivery

R—Requested (this election)

S—Standing (all elections)

U—Returned undeliverable

V—Returned and voted timely

X—Mismatched signature on the certificate or affidavit

Char (1)
RequestDate   MM/DD/YYYY
DeliveryDate   MM/DD/YYYY
BallotReturnDate Overseas ballots received during the 10-day period after Election Day for a presidential preference primary or general election shall be recorded with a return day of Election Day if the ballot counted. MM/DD/YYYY
RequestCanceledDate   MM/DD/YYYY
Military   Char (1) Y, N
OverseasFlag   Char (1) Y, N
MilitaryDependent   Char (1) Y, N
Precinct   Char (6)
PrecinctSplit   Char (10)
CongressionalDistrict   Numeric (2)
SenateDistrict   Numeric (2)
HouseDistrict   Numeric (3)
CountyCommissionDistrict   Char (10)
SchoolBoardDistrict   Char (10)
OtherDistricts   Char (25)
Party   Char (3)
VoterName   Char (99)
MailingAddressLine1   Char (40)
MailingAddressLine2   Char (40)
MailingAddressLine3   Char (40)
MailingAddressCity   Char (40)
MailingAddressState   Char (2)
MailingAddressZip   Char (15)
MailingAddressCountry   Char (40)
EmailAddress   Char (100)
FaxNumber   Char (20)
DesigneeNameRequest Designee, who can only be voter’s immediate family or legal guardian, making request on behalf of voter Char (99)
DesigneeNamePickup Designee, who may be someone other than immediate family, picking up ballot for voter Char (99)
Voter FLDL/StateID

Y = information was provided; N = information was not provided

Note: This value can come from MBRS or the ID type selection on the Vote By Mail Request or Maintain Requester Information dialog.

 Char (1)
VoterSSN4

Y = information was provided; N = information was not provided

Note: This value can come from MBRS or the ID type selection on the Vote By Mail Request or Maintain Requester Information dialog.

 Char (1)
Note:  The absentee request status S denotes voters who have a standing request, while R denotes voters who requested a ballot for this election only. When Vote-By-Mail requests are generated for all elections voters, all S voters who are eligible to vote in the election will subsequently appear twice in the Vote-By-Mail Ballot Request Information File: once with the S status and again with the R status. Any all-elections/FPCA voters who are not eligible to vote in the election with only be listed once—with the S status. Those voters will not be listed again with an R status, since they will not receive a ballot.
Note:  In order for the requests status N—No signature to be reported in the Vote-By-Mail Ballot Request Information File for no signature referrals, the option “No Signature” Reason must be selected in System Codes > Vote-By-Mail Referral Reasons for every no signature referral reason.
  • Early Voting Voters List—Lists county voters who have early voted in an election to date. This file is automatically created and sent to FVRS daily beginning the first day of early voting and for three days after the end of early voting. If multiple elections have early voting in progress on a given day, a separate file for each election is sent to FVRS. A copy of each file sent to the state is placed in \Vr6Sharedbinaries\FVRSUpload. The file name is <county ID>_EVL_<FVRS election number>_<date of run>_<time of run>.

Contents of the file, reading left to right:

County ID

FVRS Election number

Election date

Election name

Voter registration ID

Voter name

Precinct

Party

Voter's early voting location

Date voter early voted

 

 

After an election the voting activity for each precinct (mail ballots, provisional ballots, precinct registers, and data from EViD stations) is totaled and reconciled with the balloting totals from the tabulation system, as required by statute. Once all totals have been reconciled, you should run the Voting History Update program, which prepares a voting history file for transmission to FVRS by the Voter Focus program FVRSBulkXfrs. This file provides the State with voting history data, which is required by law within 35 days of the election. See Run the Voting History Update Program for instructions and additional information.

If you select the option Queue Files for Web when running the Get Out the Vote Report and you have set up candidates to retrieve files from your VR Tower website, the Get Out the Vote Report will be sent to your website by Send Public Files, which runs automatically after midnight every day and for every two hours thereafter. The file is not sent to FVRS.