How To Enter Walk Packet Data

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Microsoft Excel is powerful spreadsheet software. Yet many people never know how powerful, because they don't learn how to use all the features and functions that it offers.

Similarly, webElect.net is a powerful tool.....and it is most powerful when a user takes advantage of all that it has to offer.

webElect does more than just generate walk packets with lists of voters for your campaign. As explained on the "How to use walk packets?" page, they are also designed to be used by campaign volunteers as a data collection tool. Once the canvasing of a neighborhood is complete, the data collected needs to be entered into your voter database as explained here.

NOTE: ''webElect.net allows you to maintain a distinct voter database completely separate from the database of voters released by the State of Florida each month. For example, you may find that the state shows 500 households within a precinct of your district. As you scan through the list of names, you realize that you received contributions from 150 people in the precinct. WebElect will let you "mark" these voters within the database... YOUR database as your supporters. Information that is retained and available for your use in all future elections. When used to its fullest potential, the system is exponentially more powerful than merely using a state provided database of voters.

To enter walk packet data:

1. Starting at the webElect.net Main Menu page, click on the Group Management tool under the Voter Info module.
2. This will open up the page of the program that contains the "Group List". Groups are used to further delineate the registered voters in your district(s) to effectively target your campaign strategy. The most common groups used to identify voters are Support, Oppose, and Undecided. The walk list is designed to capture this information.
3. Scroll down the "group list" page until you find the section labeled "Voting". This section includes the three "voting" groups that exist for all campaigns - - "support", "oppose", and "undecided". You can input your supporters first by clicking on the link that says "barcode" to the right of the word "Support". This will open a new page that tracks the members of the group as you enter them into the group.
4. Looking at the completed walk list, you will find that next to each voter on the list, either the letter "S", the letter "O" or the letter "U" will be circled. Obviously, these letters correspond to each of the possible voting groups in which that voter might fall. Go down each page of the walk list, and for each voter that has the letter "S" (support) circled, use the bar code scanner to enter them into the "support" group. As you scan each voter's bar code, their unique voter ID number will be listed in the box on the screen. Alternatively, if you do not have the laser gun bar code scanner, the voter ID numbers can be manually entered into the computer.
   webElect TIP: The laser scanner gun is a relatively inexpensive piece of equipment that reduces an hours worth of data entry down to a few minutes. Well worth its minimal cost.
5. After you get to the end of the walk list and you have scanned in (or hand-keyed) all of your supporters, you simply click the "SAVE" button located at the top left of the screen. A small confirmation window will pop-up showing how many records were entered into the "support" group. Click the "OK" button to close this window.
6. Repeat these steps to enter all the other groups that you have established for your campaign.

The two groups to enter next would be the "Oppose" and "Undecided" groups. Again, simply select the barcode link for each of these groups from the "Group List" page. Then, flip through the pages of the walk list and use the laser scanner and bar codes to scan in the voter ID number of each person that "Opposes" you and each one who is still "Undecided" on who will get their vote. These three groups allow you to improve your campaign mailings as you near election day. You know you don't need to send any last minute post cards to your supporters or those who will vote for your opponent. It is unnecessary to campaign to your supporters, and worthless to campaign to those who oppose you. Therefore, you can use the voter targeting query tool to pull these two groups right out of your mail lists. Eliminating these voters allows you to narrow your aim and focus on all of the "Undecided" voters in your district. These are the voters that you need and that you need to work to get.

Along with the Support, Oppose, and Undecided groups, your volunteers hopefully made notes on the walk list to indicate any other groups where a voter might belong. For example, as explained on the "How to use walk packets?" page, you may have noticed several voters in the precinct were UF, USF, UCF, or FSU alumni. Make sure you enter each of these people into their respective college "group". Any voters that work in the healthcare industry should be entered into their respective group. You can add new groups to the system that may be necessary for your particular campaign. If your district is largely rural areas, you may need to add a group called "farmers" or "ranchers".

As you canvass neighborhoods, collect campaign contributions, and attend any other election related events, you will accumulate information about many of the voters in your precincts and district. Use the power of webElect.net to make this information work for you and give your campaign an advantage over your opponent.