OpenField now offers Absentee and Early Voting (AV/EV) data! As Catalist releases it, OpenField will update the available Absentee and Early Vote data in all Gardens.
AV/EV data is searchable in Create a Search and visible to canvassers on a contact’s record under a new GOTV tab. It will allow your campaign to remove folks who have already voted from your Lists, see when a contact has requested or returned a mail-in ballot, inform a contact of their Early Vote location, etc.
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What is AV/EV Data
Generally, “Absentee Vote” implies a mail-in ballot requested and returned before Election Day, and “Early Vote” means an in-person ballot cast before Election Day at an approved location, such as a County Board of Elections office.
Some states have nuances in defining Absentee and/or Early Votes. States like Arizona and Wisconsin define these terms ambiguously. Someone you expect to appear on the Early Voter rolls may appear on the Absentee Voter rolls and vice versa.
✏️ Please Note: There may be a lag between when a state Board of Elections processes and releases AV/EV data and when our vendor, Catalist, has the updated data available for us to load into your Garden. OpenField updates the data we receive nightly.
Differences in AV/EV Data by State
How ballots are handled and tracked varies widely from state to state and even in counties within a single state. The frequency of updates, the start date of updates, and the ballot data points included in updates aren’t consistent.
Some states report only on the dates ballots have been Returned, while others will share data about the dates that ballots have been Requested, Sent, and Returned. Additionally, some states report on the status of ballot requests, others report on ballot methods, some report on ballot statuses, and some offer reporting on none of the above.
Only 40 states release AV/EV data, so we will only update Gardens in those states. The states that do not have AV/EV data include Alabama, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, and South Carolina.
Some states offered AV/EV data during COVID-19 but have since stopped.
Some states, including California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Washington, allow mail-in voting only.
Some states provide AV/EV data by county instead of statewide, and some of the smaller counties in these states don’t provide AV/EV data at all. Those states include Arizona, Nevada, and Ohio.
✏️ Please Note: For more information on how your Garden’s state processes AV/EV data, contact our support team at support@openfield.ai.
Create a Search Using AV/EV Data
To search with AV/EV data, navigate to Create Search from the Burger Bar menu.
Under Voter Status, there will be a section titled AV/EV. You can narrow by just Absentee Voting or just Early Voting data.
You will also see date range fields for Ballot Requested, Ballot Sent, Ballot Received, Ballot Reissued, Ballot Rejected, and Ballot Returned.
- A “Requested” ballot is when a voter requests a ballot from a state BOE.
- A “Sent” ballot is when a BOE has mailed the requested ballot to the voter.
- A “Received” ballot is when a BOE has the ballot back in their office.
- A “Reissued” ballot occurs if a voter loses their initial ballot and requests a replacement ballot from their BOE.
- A “Rejected” ballot is when a BOE deems a ballot unsatisfactory in some way and chooses not to accept it.
- A “Returned” ballot is when the BOE has received it back in their office and approved it to be counted.
Please Note: Dates for Requested, Sent, Returned, etc. ballots are based on the most recent date. If a voter sends in two separate ballot requests, our system will reflect the second or most recent date of request.
How Canvassers See AV/EV Data
We have also added a new GOTV tab to the contact record screen visible to canvassers. This tab contains data on the contact’s Early Vote Location, Ballot Drop-off Location, and Polling Location, as well as noting whether or not a contact has early voted and dates for when an Absentee Ballot was requested, mailed, and returned.
There is also a link for canvassers to look up a voter’s early vote location on iwillvote.com. They can click Need to look up an Early Voting Location? Click here, and they’ll be able to assist with the lookup.
Clicking the calendar icon beside Early Vote Location or Ballot Drop-Off Location will also display the dates available for Early Voting or Ballot Drop-Off.
If a contact’s Early Voting location doesn’t display or displays incorrectly, you can click Need to look up an Early Voting Location manually? Click here.
A window to iwillvote.com will open, and you can search for a contact’s Early Voting location there.
Have more questions? Email us at support@openfield.ai.
If you have feature requests or suggestions for how to improve OpenField, stop by our Canny page!
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