VAN automatically applies certain suppressions when you create a list for voter contact. This excludes voters who may have moved or passed away, and drops contacts who may be dangerous or hostile to canvassers.
For most canvassing and voter contact work, you should leave default suppressions on. Attempting to canvass voters at an address we've already marked as "moved" is a less than efficient use of time, while "Do Not Walk" and "Do Not Call" voters may have been hostile or threatening to a volunteer in the past. However, it may make sense to remove some suppressions for analysis work (Do Not Walk voters are still perfectly valid registered voters, we just shouldn't knock on their door).
Address Definitions
Good/Bad: Addresses are marked as "Bad" if they are removed from a person record, or if we record that a person has "moved." Addresses that are not marked as invalid are still considered good.
Voting Address: Address where the voter is registered to vote. This comes from the local clerk and affects which elections/districts a person can vote in and which polling location they should use. If this is incorrect, a voter must change it with their clerk.
Mailing Address: Address a voter has specified they would prefer for receiving mail. This can come from the local clerk or can be added by users in VAN. Direct mail and letters from VAN will default to the listed mailing address for a voter, and assumed the voting address is mailing address if there is no separate mailing address.
NCOA Address: Voters who have filled out the National Change of Address Form with the post office. This signifies they may have moved out of the district.
Other Suppressions
Deceased: Voter has been marked as "Deceased" by a user in VAN, or through one of our data appends.
Do Not Walk: Voter has been marked to never receive door contact by a user in VAN. Used for hostile or dangerous voter contacts, like someone threatening a canvasser.
Do Not Call: Voter has been marked to never receive phone contact by a user in VAN. Used for hostile or threatening voter contacts.
Do Not Text/Email/Mail: Same as the above, although far less used/generally not applicable. Not used as default list suppressions.
Canvass Results That Affect Suppressions
Suppressions can be applied from a person record in VAN (look up the person in quick look-up, mark them as "Do Not Walk" after a canvasser has had a bad experience). However, some canvass results also automatically apply a suppression based on your canvassing or phone banking work:
Deceased: Marks the voter as Deceased in VAN
Moved: Marks the voters primary address as bad
Wrong Number: Marks the voter's preferred phone number as bad. If using virtual phone bank, marks whichever phone number was called as bad.
Disconnected: Marks the voter's preferred phone number as bad. If using virtual phone bank, marks whichever phone number was called as bad.
Canvass Results That DO NOT Affect Suppressions
A few canvass results look like they could affect suppressions, but actually do not.
Vacant/Innaccessible: Used in door-to-door canvassing. Inaccessible is highly context dependent (Gated community, but maybe a member of the community could canvass there; high rise apartment building, etc.) so doesn't apply a blanket suppression. Vacant can be a bit subjective (do you want a volunteer saying no one lives at a house just because the lawn is overgrown?).
Refused/Hostile: Folks who refuse to talk on a given canvass attempt shouldn't necessarily be removed from all future voter outreach. You can remove them using "Canvass Status" in create a list; it's just not an automatic suppression. If a refusal/hostility rises to a level that no campaign should ever contact that voter, add the "Do Not Walk" or "Do Not Call" suppression on their voter record manually.