MDP Help Desk

Michigan VAN Newsletter

Hey Folks,

Happy September! We hope everyone had an amazing Labor Day weekend; it's always a powerful moment to reflect on the incredible contributions that organized labor has made to our country. We're headed towards Fall and, with that, an election in November and have a few important updates towards that end.

Vote History for the August Primary Updated

This morning, we released vote history for the August, 2021 Primary in VAN. We know folks have been eagerly awaiting this information and we appreciate your patience while the Secretary of State worked to collect it from each and every township conducting elections this year.

You can find this information under the “Vote History” section of create a list, as well as breakdowns of whether someone voted absentee, at the polls, or not at all.



Candidate VAN Access

We’ve been getting a ton of questions from County Parties about VAN access for local candidates for the November election.

Candidates that are using VAN for field outreach must have their own VAN committees, even if they are working with a local party or club. Their VAN committee will control ownership of and access to their data for this cycle and any future runs for office. Additionally, keeping committees properly differentiated helps us ensure that our targets and models work for every type of campaign.

Candidates who need VAN access can reach out at midems.co/van and we’ll help set them up!

Commit Your Data

Don’t forget to commit your MiniVAN data! After canvassers have synced their MiniVAN lists, make sure you go to the MiniVAN Commit section to review and commit their data to VAN. Your MiniVAN data will not be available in VAN until you complete this step. Your uncommitted lists are only retained for 21 days, so be sure to commit your lists regularly.



Check the box next to the turf and click blue "Commit" in the upper right.



Daily Absentee Ballot Data

We’ll begin uploading AV data on Monday, September 20th. This is the earliest date that we can receive an AV file once early voting has begun in Michigan. We’ll continue uploading AV files every day that the Secretary of State's office is open through election day. AV files will include information on ballots requested, ballots sent by clerks, and ballots received by clerks. This data typically hits VAN 10-11am. Once we begin these uploads, you’ll be able to find this data under the “Early Vote” section of Create a List, and can display it in miniVAN and virtual phone banks for your volunteers.

All the best,
The MDP Data Team