1. Database Management for
Political Groups
Timothy Hathaway
The Hathaway Group, Inc.
http://www.thehathawaygroup.com
trh@thehathawaygroup.com

2. Political Uses for Databases
 Voter identification (Voter ID)
 Get out the vote (GOTV)
 Direct mail
 Fundraising
 Campaign operations
 Volunteer management
 Correspondence
 Membership
 Media contact
 Event turnout

3. Class Outline
 Part I – Voter ID and GOTV
 Part II – Building a List
 Part III – Building a Database
 Part IV - Campaign Database
Operations
 Part V – Advanced Technologies

4. Part I – Voter ID & GOTV

5. Voter ID Takes Place
 Constantly - It is an ongoing process
before, during and after the election
 Must be integrated into the campaign
plan from the start
 Must have the support of the campaign
and party leadership
 Last minute Voter ID cannot make up
for lost time

6. Voter ID Asks
 What party do you support?
 Are you going to vote?
 What candidate are you going to
vote for?
 What are your key issues?
 Do you want to get involved?

7. Assets & Echelons
 Assets
 Phone banks
 Door to door
 Direct mail
 Meetings & Rallies
 Internet
 Echelons
 National
 State
 County
 Ward/Precinct

8. Assets & Echelons Matrix
Phone
Banks
Door to
Door
Direct
Mail
Meetings &
Rallies
Internet
National
State
County
Ward/Precinct

9. Benefits of Database
Tracked Voter ID
 Breaks down walls between assets
and echelons
 Data is always the most accurate
 Information can be distributed in
real-time
 Ability to audit the accuracy of Voter
ID

10. Other Benefits of Voter ID
 Ability to integrate supporters into the
campaign operation
 Direct mail
 Volunteers
 Events
 Monitoring progress to your turnout goals
 Feedback from voters polling might not
pickup
 Persuade voters from similar parties

11. Part II - Building a List

12. Building Down or Up?
 Building Down
 Begin with the
entire voter list
 Score voters on
likeliness to vote
 Score voters on
likeliness to
support you
 Begin Voter ID
 Building Up
 Start with an
empty list
 Collect lists of likely
supporters
 Merge/purge the
lists
 Always track source
codes
 Begin Voter ID

13. Sources of Lists
 Getting lists is dependent on
 What is available
 Your connection to the list owner
 Think not just of politics but also
marketing
 Beware the salt names
 Always test the list before working
on it

14. Normal Sources for Lists
 Local party organization
• Previous campaign lists
• Volunteer
 Interest groups
• Churches
• Clubs
• Other parties
 Mailing & subscription lists
• Newspapers
• Magazines

15. Duplicate Voter Records
 Duplicates are the most dangerous
problem of a voter database
 False sense of political strength
 Wasted time effort and resources
 Cause a lack of faith in the Voter ID
program when events fail
 The key to eliminating duplicates is a
good Primary Key (Matchcode)

16. Scrubbing a List
 NCOA
 National Change of Address
 Phone match
 Use databases provided by
telemarketers
 CASS certification
 Standardize addresses for postage
discounts and easier searching

17. Build a Voter Score
 Using the voter history generate a
numeric or letter score to show how
likely they are to vote in the next
election
 Give extra weighting to low turnout
elections
 Look for elections that show party
affiliation

18. Part III - Building A
Database

19. Deciding on a Database
Program
 Microsoft Access
 Campaign Industry Software
 Custom Built Product

20. Microsoft Access
 Commonly
available
 Extremely flexible
 Works well with
other Microsoft
products
 Large number of
programmers work
in Access
 No built in
campaign
management
capabilities
 Does not scale well
to large lists
 Does not work
very well in multi-
user environments

21. Campaign Industry
Software
 Specifically written
for campaign
management
 Does what is does
very well
 Has technical
support
 Reliance on one
vendor
 Normally need
vendor to write
any new code
 Rarely foreign
language/campaig
n support
 Not always well
documented

22. Custom Written Software
 Ability to get
exactly what you
want
 Works with your
country specifics
 Can be expensive
 Reliance on a
single person
 Not always written
to industry
standards
 Rarely well
documented

23. Database Terms
 Rows/Records
 A single voter per record. The records
contains all the information about them
 Columns/Fields
 The specific kinds of data that you are
tracking about each voter
 Table
 A group of records that all have the same field
structure
 Database
 A group of tables that do not need identical
field structures

24. What is a Primary Key?
 Unique identifier for that voter
 Voter ID Number
 Social Security Number
 Matchcode
• Combination of name/address/gender to
build a nearly unique identifier
• Will cause different voters to be falsely
identified as duplicates
• Requires very strict data entry rules

25. Field Definitions
 Type
 Text
 Numbers
 Yes/No
 Size

26. Field Constraints
 Blank
 Reference table
 Candidate
 Party
 City
 Range

27. What is SQL
 Written in the 1970’s by an IBM
programmer
 A text command language that
allows you to lookup or alter
information in a database according
to the criteria you give it
 It is common for almost all database
programs to work with SQL

28. SQL Commands
 SELECT
 DELETE
 APPEND
 UPDATE

29. Part IV - Campaign
Database Operations

30. Rules For Political
Databases
 There can only be one copy of the
database
 You must keep control over who is
entering data into the system
 Design your database to cover the entire
campaign plan
 Build an ability to audit the accuracy of
the political data
 Agree on and only allow defined values
for any field

31. Database Review – B2K
 Field Names
 Planning for other campaign
operations
 Referential integrity
 Primary keys for de-duplication
 Ease of data entry

32. Managing Voter ID
Databases
 Source Code Performance
 Identifies best and worse performing
lists
 Allows you to project supporters at the
end of list penetration
 Tracking Voter ID Progress
 Move to the left spreadsheet

33. Part V – Advanced
Technology

34. What is Client Server?
 The voter database is held on a
single server.
 The server uses a more robust
database program such as Microsoft
SQL Server 2000
 Local computers access the
database server through LAN or the
Internet using ODBC

35. What Does Client Server
Look Like?
Database Server
Microsoft Server 2000
Connection is Through the
Internet and ODBC
Unlimited Workstations Across the Hall or Across the Country

36. Client Server Tradeoffs
 Any authorized
computer can access
the data
 All computers see and
make changes in the
the data in real-time
 There are no
geographic limits to
linking the computer
 Linking is through
common Internet
access
 SQL Server handles
all record conflicts
 Security risk to the
voter database
 Requires planning to
avoid being a single
point of failure
 Requires more
expertise to manage a
SQL Server
 Special software
required to back the
database up

37. What is Active Server Page?
 A Microsoft programming language
that is inserted into a web page.
 Can access database and present
results as a web page
 Can write/edit information on a
database from the contents of a web
form

38. What Does Active Server
Page Look Like?
Microsoft
Server 2000
with Voter
Database
Common Computers Linked to the Internet
http://www.thehathawaygroup.com/voters.asp
Microsoft
Internet
Information
Server
with Active
Server Page

39. What is GOTV?
 The process of getting the highest
possible percentage of identified
supporters to vote.
 Know who the supporters are in order
to turn them out
 Have a plan on election day for
determining who has/has not voted
 Have a means of contacting the voters
on election day

40. Integrated GOTV Operation
Local poll watchers
entering voter’s Primary
Key into an Active Server
Page web page when they
vote
Local Party Groups
Looking for people that
have not voted through
an Active Server Page or
database query
National Party
Headquarters making
decision based on real
time voter turnout by
linking to voter database

41. Contact Information
 http://www.thehathawaygroup.com
 Trh@thehathawaygroup.com
 Phone (703) 837-1818
 Fax (703) 217-0770
 1010 Pendleton St. Alexandria, VA
22314