Processing of NCOA Address Changes

The NCOA input-processing feature automates the entry of address changes from NCOA vendors into the county database. Using this feature greatly reduces the manual data entry required to update voter records. Address changes from NCOA vendors are recorded in voter records as third-party address changes.

Processing of NCOA address changes consists of four tasks:

First, read the data from the NCOA file into a Microsoft® Excel spreadsheet. Voter Focus is designed to read a spreadsheet containing the NCOA vendor’s findings. The data must be organized as described in NCOA Input Spreadsheet Format. The loading of the vendor's response file into the spreadsheet is the responsibility of the county; it is not done within the Voter Focus system. Save the spreadsheet in XLSX or XLS format.

Next, import the file into the Voter Focus processing queue. Data from the spreadsheet must then be read into a processing queue in Voter Focus. See How to Import NCOA Response Data into the Processing Queue for instructions.

Then, process changes that only involve ZIP+4® additions to existing zip codes and voters who left no forwarding address. During this process, any changes that only append the ZIP+4 digits to existing five-digit zip codes are accepted automatically, with no user intervention necessary and no notices scheduled. The process also scans the queue for any voters who moved without a forwarding address and schedules Final Notices for those voters. See How to Process ZIP+4 Changes from an NCOA Vendor for instructions.

Finally, process the remaining changes. During this process, the address changes are presented one-by-one to the user along with the voter’s current address. The user can then decide whether to accept or reject the change. Or they can opt to temporarily skip the change until further research can be done.

When the user accepts a change, the appropriate notices are automatically scheduled. If the change moves the voter to another Florida county, the address change will be suspended to the voter’s new county where the appropriate notices can be scheduled when the voter’s record is updated by the new county.

Should the user reject a change, Voter Focus will prevent presentation of the same change to users making subsequent NCOA input-processing runs. See How to Process Address Changes from an NCOA Vendor for instructions.

User Permissions Affecting NCOA Input Processing

NCOAProcessing

Give to all users involved in NCOA processing.

It enables the NCOA Processing button on the List Maintenance tab and the Process Remaining Items in NCOA Queue button on the NCOA Processing dialog..

NcoaAdministration

Give to users who are:

Producing NCOA export files.
Importing NCOA change-of-address data into the processing queue.
Running the ZIP+4 process to expand existing five-digit zip codes.
Running NCOA reports.

It enables all features on the NCOA Processing dialog.These users must also have the permission NCOAProcessing.

NCOA Items that Are Not Processed

The NCOA input processing feature ignores items with one or more of these characteristics:

The move type is not I (Individual) or F (Family).
The effective date of the NCOA address change is prior to:
- The last date that the voter's address was updated on 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. (That is, repeats of previously reviewed changes are ignored.)
The voter's record has a precinct override. Such address changes should be rejected during NCOA processing and entered into the voter's record manually.
The value in the NCOA Link Footnote field of the spreadsheet is not A or 00.
Addresses with the prefix HC, such as HC 45 BOX 6625. Such address changes should be rejected during NCOA processing and entered into the voter's record manually.