VAN Relay automatically incorporates information available in My Voters to your records in My Campaign, My Members, My Workers, or EveryAction. If you enter information into one database, the VAN Relay data process will search other databases to find supported data and add the information available on the contact record. The data process matches records in the background as you begin entering data into your system. You will not receive any in-app notifications or updates about its process.
Records are continuously matched based on a combination of first/last name, date of birth, address, phone, and email address. Initial match attempts are based on the strictest criteria to avoid false positives. Match criteria becomes less rigorous with further attempts.
Understanding VAN Relay
Information shared in VAN Relay includes:
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Date of Registration
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Party
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Registration status
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Date of Birth
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Vote History (Even-year Primary/Generals only)
The following fields are not included:
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Addresses
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Phones
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Emails
Addresses and phone numbers marked bad in one database will not affect the record’s address or number in another database.
Understanding matching in My Campaign and My Voters
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If a contact matches to multiple My Campaign records, Relay selects the best match between the records and links them. Any other My Campaign records are not matched.
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If a contact matches to both a My Campaign and a My Voters record, Relay matches both the records and stores each of the external IDs on the record.
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If a My Voters or My Campaign record matches to multiple records in VAN, Relay matches all records that meet the match criteria and share the My Voters/My Campaign ID to all of the matching VAN records.
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If a record has been linked manually to a VAN contact, Relay can override the link if a better match exists.
Applying Activist Codes and Survey Questions
For VAN Relay to match Activist Codes and Survey Questions, they need to be shared to the appropriate committees and databases. Matched records do display Activist Codes and Survey Questions applied in another database only if that committee, Survey Question, or Activist Code is in both databases. VAN Relay will capture Activist Codes and Survey Questions applied within the last two years.
To view data on a record originally applied in another database requires the security function View data originating from other databases.
Adding Records
Regardless of how you add records to My Voters, manually or Bulk, all new and modified records are sent to the VAN Relay database for matching. If a match can be made, we relay data originating in the voter file to the new My Campaign record. Relay attempts a match during nightly processing whenever a new address is added to a record.
Relayed data can include:
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VAN ID from the corresponding voter file state
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Date of Registration
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Race
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Party
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Registration Status
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Vote History (any Primary and General after 2000)
If you Bulk Upload records and VAN Relay cannot make a match between a record in your source upload file and the database, the Bulk Upload will attempt to match against the My Campaign database .
If VAN Relay cannot match an existing record in My Campaign, it will search My Voters to find a match and share the data available.
VAN Relay can locate a record in any My Voters database on the platform. Even if you Bulk Upload records from different states, VAN Relay can still make a match. As long as a record has enough information to trigger a match (name, address, city, state), Relay attempts to match. For example, if you enter a record into State A My Campaign with an address in State B, VAN Relay will attempt to match in the State B voter file to complete the State A record with voter file information. States A and B will not be linked, nor will State A Votebuilder users be able to access State B Votebuilder.
Matching manually added records and fields
When you add records manually to My Campaign, without searching the Voter File via Quick Look Up, VAN Relay processes the record to find a match in the Voter File. Entering new records through Quick Look Up, automatically searches against the Voter File. If there is a match, available Voter File information is pulled into My Campaign to make a complete record. This is essentially the same work as VAN Relay.
VAN Relay never overwrites manually-added fields, like Address, Phone Number or Email. Relay only supplements My Campaign records with additional data points from My Voters.
You can also search on Vote History, Party, Registration Status, and other My Voters fields in Create a List for records with these data points in a My Campaign database.
Updating from the Voter File
During regular voter file updates, VAN Relay attempts to re-match all of the records in My Campaign and update corresponding My Members records with Date of Registration, Race, Registration Status, and Vote History. This process occurs regardless of whether it is a national My Members or My Campaign database, or a state-based My Campaign database.