How To Create Walk Packets

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Walk packets are one form of the final output of voter targeting. Once you have queried the voter database for your targeted voters, you need to plot the locations of their residences on the map with pinpoints. (See the "HOW TO Target Voters" page for guidance on this.) Properly designed walk packets are an invaluable resource when canvassing neighborhoods.

The following instructions are for the old Microsoft MapPoint integration. They do not apply to the new Google Maps integration.

To create walk packets with the current Google Maps option, see the demo video on the left side of the http://webelect.net home page title "Create Walk Packets"

To plot the query results to map point:

1. Select the output option “Plot to new Map” and run the report. This will plot the query results directly into Microsoft MapPoint. It displays the location of each home by opening a map of the area and showing a pinpoint on each home. Use the tools within MapPoint to subdivide the targeted voters into walk packets.
2. Use the “zoom in” feature to zoom in a little closer on an area of the displayed map. This will allow you to see more detail at the street level and where the pinpoints are located.
3. Take the “free-form” drawing tool in MapPoint to draw a boundary line around a cluster of targeted voters. This cluster will become a walk packet.

   webElect TIP: The free-form tool is very useful for creating walk packets because so many neighborhoods and streets are not square blocks. The freeform tool allows you to create your boundary line based on street proximity, not just geographic location. If you have a limited amount of time for campaigning due to weather, other events, or for whatever reason, you can look for the tight clusters of voters in a neighborhood and focus your efforts on these areas to make sure you visit the maximum number of voters in the shortest amount of time.
4. After you finish drawing the boundary line (border) around a cluster of voters, a window will open that will show how many households are within the boundary line, and thus will be included in the walk packet. If the number seems good, then leave this border as it is. If you think there should be more or less homes to visit, then redraw your border accordingly until you reach a size that is good.

   webElect TIP: Think about the organization of your neighborhood canvassing when determining what is a good size for walk packet. Do your volunteers work in teams? How much time do you plan to spend? Will you be in a rural or urban area, i.e. how close together are the houses? Is it a 100 foot walk from door to door or a 500 foot walk? Depending on the size of your canvassing team, it may be desirable to have a range of sizes of walk packets. Use a little common sense and it will not take long before your walk packets are just the right size.
5. Click on the “print list and map” button in the window. The system will print two copies of the street map for that individual walk packet with the pinpoints showing the targeted voters’ locations. It will also print out two copies of detailed walk lists by address. With this system you won’t need to do any photocopying of Ran McNally maps or extra work to get the walk packet ready.
   

At this point, a sub-set of the initial group of targeted voters has been pulled off of the map and placed into a walk packet. When you go back to the overall targeted voter map, you will see that the pinpoint colors have changed for all the voting households that were included in the walk packet. This way you know which households have already been included in a walk packet.

To create the rest of your walk packets for this voter target group, repeat the steps above until every household has been included in a walk packet. The colors of the pinpoints on the map will change to a different color each time you create a new walk packet. Start your next packet by looking at the original map of the entire voter sample again, and using the “zoom” feature to zoom in on a new area, draw a border and parse into another subset (walk packet) of voters.

When you finish, you will have walk packets that contain detailed maps and informative voter lists sorted by address.

To make the most of these tools, please see HOW TO “Use Walk Lists” and “Enter Walk List Data.”