Data Protection & Security Recommendations for staying within the law The Liberal Democrats have a legal duty to keep voter data safe and secure The Data Protection Act classifies voting preference as “sensitive” along with things like medical records and sexuality The Information Commissioner is becoming increasingly strict about breaches in data protection and can impose a fine of up to £, To avoid breaking the law we need your help Following the guidance set out in this Geek Sheet will ensure that you don’t breach the user agreement you signed up to when you first logged into Connect Exporting data If you send unencrypted data to a direct mail company or other supplier and it is lost or stolen then the party will be fined Any function that can be carried out in Connect, must be done in Connect Exporting it without need or security is illegal As such, only Connect Managers and their Deputies can export more than email addresses from Connect We need you to respect these restrictions and not attempt to circumvent them, in order that we can all stay within the law Your help in this matter is greatly appreciated Data within Connect is very secure, but once it leaves Connect it becomes vulnerable to abuse Following these basic steps can help to greatly reduce the risk  Download free encryption software like -zip (see overleaf) and use them to protect any files exported from Connect that contain personal data  Do NOT send passwords that relate to encrytped files in the same email as the file If possible send them by text  Delete any export files immediately after use  Routinely disable accounts for users who no longer require access (or put in an urgent support request to your Connect Manager or Regional Connect Manager if you’re not able to do this yourself)  Collect in all used and unused canvass cards and shred them before disposal  Refer any requests from voters to have their data removed or sent to them (known as Subject Access Request) to your Regional Connect Manager, via support request Derived values (like target pool subgroup) and collated statistics (like exports from Counts and Crosstabs) are NOT considered personal data Recommended encryption software After downloading personal data from Connect you MUST by law, encrypt the file before storing or sending it anywhere We recommend using -Zip It allows you to create password protected zip file that can be opened by any other standard zipping program like Winzip Download it for free from: www-ziporg Email - Privacy & Electronic Communications Regulations Bulk use of email addresses without permission is illegal You need to make sure you have robust system for keeping track of email opt-ins and opt-outs When and to what have people given consent? There are two options available in Connect  All email contacts should include an easy way to opt-out Single email list  If someone emails you, you have the right to email them back on related subjects, this is called soft opt-in If you only maintain one email list, then you can use the Email tags, which include Opt-In and Opt-Out options Multiple email lists If you have multiple email lists, you might want to create local question that has multiple responses You can then apply a response when someone opts in or out However, you should only apply response when actually contacted by voter, as a false contact may prevent some Target Pools from functioning effectively  The wording below should be included at any point where an email address is collected - this gives implied consent  If someone emails your govuk or parliamentuk email address, consent has only been given to you as an elected representative, not the Liberal Democrats  To get people to give consent to the Lib Dems, your MP / MEP / councillor emails should have links in to petitions and surveys that include the Lib Dem data protection wording “ The Liberal Democrats and their elected representatives may use the information you’ve given to contact you By providing your data to us, you are consenting to us making contact with you in the future by mail, email, telephone, text, website and apps, even though you may be registered with the Telephone Preference Service You can always opt out of communications at any time by contacting us or visiting wwwlibdemsorguk/optout For more information go to wwwlibdemsorguk/privacy ” Questions - Best Practice Questions are used in Connect to record any opinion or preference expressed by voter Canvasser collects question responses of: They can be used to record views on issues, likelihood to vote, willingness to sign a petition or volunteer, as well as voting intention Usual Vote: Conservative Local election vote: Lib Dem Recording contacts When question response is added in Connect it applies a contact to the voter For that reason, you should not apply a question response to voter unless someone has actually contacted them (or they have been in touch with us) Data input into Connect Don’t need to use questions to record other information? Voter’s record has question and contact responses applied Canvass analysis is calculated No, we can use tags to record information about voter which is not related to their views You can also use Saved Lists to keep track of fixed groups of voters Saved Lists can be added to and subtracted from each other in Create List Canvass Analysis puts the voter into Switch group of Tory Facing target pool Master Party ID is the most recent future voting intention In this case Lib Dem Voter gets correct direct mail for those who float between us and our main opposition in Tory facing seat Voter is added to Shuttleworth because we know they are voting Lib Dem this time How do find the question I need? Questions are sorted by “Cycle” and “Type” Cycle is the year of the election to which the question refers Type is whether the question is about Party, Candidate, an Issue, an Event, an Action (like putting up poster) or volunteering The Legacy type is for data that has been imported from past databases To map or not to map You can search across many similar questions quickly by using a Master Question Master Questions don’t have year associated with them and are found at the very bottom of the question list If you create local question you need to put in support request to get it mapped to Master Question That way, when you want to find all Liberal Democrats, for example, you don’t need to look at all your questions one by one There are master questions:  Master Party ID (MPID future voting intentions)  Past Party ID (PPID - past voting behaviour)  nd Preference Party (the voter’s second choice)  Volunteer (will they volunteer) Question subject On future voting intention On past voting behaviour On party views On national issue On very localised issue On posters On volunteering Example Which party will you vote for next time? Which party did you vote for last time? Who do you usually support? Is crime an important issue to you? Are you in favour of controlled parking? Would you be willing to display a poster? Can you spare an hour a month to help us?  Important Issues (what matters to them)  Squeeze Master (for tactical voting questions)  Posters (will they display a poster or garden poster)  Scottish Independence  EU Referendum Master Question Canvass Analysis Master Party ID (MPID) Yes Past Party ID (PPID) Yes None Yes Important Issues No None No Posters Yes Volunteer Yes put in Support Request to get your local questions mapped to master question and to canvass analysis Do create questions for “Admin” purposes Saved Lists do the job better and without creating false contacts Don’t check if there is a national question you can use before creating one of your own Do blindly apply canvass data to questions that weren’t asked on the doorstep Don’t archive old questions You’ll still be able to find them if you need them (via the option at the very bottom of the question list), but it will keep your lists tidy Do have only one voter ID question in your script This makes it much less likely that the voter will end up in the correct Canvass Analysis category Don’t explain to your canvassers what happens to their data after they give it to you, and why it’s essential that they ask all the questions in the script Do Target Pools and why we use them Target Pools are searches that the national Connect team have created to help you quickly select groups of voters Target Pools can be found in:  Create List  Counts and Crosstabs  The Question and Contact Summary pages  Export files Target Pools allow you to: } Create quick lists of priority voters based on marked register and past canvass data Target your recruitment at the hottest prospects based on how recently and frequently we’ve spoken to them and how positive their Lib Dem canvass was } Work to engage first time voters  Quickly create lists of voters  Create split mailings (either internally within Connect or using Word)  Look at complex statistics (eg Switch analysis) “Will target pools work for me?” Target Pools work best when there is data in the system for them to feed off Marked Registers } } Who is most likely to vote in your election? Voters new on the register who’ve not yet voted locally need to know that we’re active locally and have a chance of winning here! Target your messages to make sure you’re motivating your supporters, winning over floating voters, squeezing the third party and demotivating the main opposition Choose from Tory and Labour facing versions depending on who is your main opposition It is important that you get the records from the council about who voted, so that we can start to treat people differently based on their past voting record  Target Pools update overnight to reflect the data entered into Connect the previous day Using multiple questions  Each Target Pool consists of one or more sub-groups When you record answers to more than one voting intention question for each voter, it helps Connect to know which voters are floating between which parties  Each voter can only appear in ONE of the sub-groups of a Target Pool  If voter fulfils the criteria for more than one sub-group, they will appear in the sub-group that is HIGHER up the list Target Pools & direct mail You can send different letters to different target pool sub-groups and still print them out in delivery walk order ) When printing letters, choose “Branch By Target” from the Template Letter drop down ) Then choose the target pool you want to use ) Finally, assign letter text to each sub-group Available to everyone: Letters - bulk apply the Letters tags to voters to create your own tailor made segmentation for direct mail Doorstep canvass - allows you to leave out voters who don’t vote or have already made up their mind Volunteer prospects - uses contact history to prioritise recruitment by recency, frequency and support Register History - marked registers separate voters by how often they vote or when they appeared on the register Alternatively, if you prefer to do your mailmerge in Word, you can include the Target Pools as a column in your export file A letter abbreviation indicates which sub-group each voter appears in Target Pools & statistics Target Pools can also be found in Counts and Crosstabs to allow detailed statistical analysis A target pool with Switch Analysis in its name will tell you what canvass analysis or voting intention we had for a voter in the past For example MPID for Switch Analysis, will give you the Master Party ID response during the election campaign Tory / Labour facing (Eng & Wal) - segments voters into the “S” groups by Canvass Analysis to target messages Scottish Direct Mail (Scot) for targeted messages based on likelihood to support SNP Lifestage - separate your messages by the likely age and family status of the voter EU Referendum - uses question responses and demographics to determine likely attitude to Brexit GOTV Shuttleworth - Tory, Labour and Scottish lists of who best to remind to vote Available on request: Multi-party facing - the S This allows you to compare your recent data with the information we groups split out to allow for had then So, you can answer questions like “Are our supporters still smaller parties Put in a with us?”, “Are we squeezing the third party?”, “Is the opposition support request for access vote hardening?” and “Are we winning over floating voters?” Who is in each target pool? Remember that no voter can appear in more than one sub-group of the same target pool Target Pool Includes Excludes Notes Doorstep Canvass (Tier )  Voted in the last years  New on the register in the last years  Turned in the last years  Past supporters  Likely Remain voters  Households of or more  Doorstep canvassed in the last days  Phone canvassed in the last days  Strong Lib Dems  Repeatedly canvassed as opposition  Not Voting and Not Lib Dem since the general election  Tagged as opposition activists, religious nonvoters etc  Data Plus "Stay at Home" groups  Likely Leave voters  Not householded  Hugely benefits from the addition of marked registers  More targeted with Data Plus Doorstep Canvass (Tier )  Ever voted  New on the register in the last years  Switch voters with no record of ever voting  Strong Lib Dems  Data Plus "Switch" groups  Households of or more  Doorstep canvassed in the last days  Phone canvassed in the last days  Tagged as opposition activists, religious nonvoters etc  Not householded  Expanded with Data Plus Volunteer Prospects (Tier )  Canvassed as Definite Lib Dem in the last days, and contacted at least times prior to that  Tagged as Age:Infirm  If nobody in Tier , move on to Tier , then Tier etc Volunteer Prospects (Tiers to )  Each tier gradually relaxes the restrictions on frequency and recency of contact, as well as strength of support  Tagged as Age:Infirm  Includes existing volunteers If required, remove them using the My Campaign tab in Create List Target Pool Register History ( by May X) Includes  Turned in the months leading up to the May elections in the year concerned Excludes  Nobody Notes  Even year olds who have voted in an election will be in these groups Register History (Voted in Recent Local Election)  Voted in low turnout election in the last years, including police commissioner, European and byelections  All current postal voters  Turned in the last years Register History (Voted in Recent National Election ONLY)  Voted in high turnout election in the last years, including general election, Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly  Turned in the last years  Voted in recent local election  Postal voters Register History (Voted, but not recently)  Anyone with marked register data from + years ago  Recent voters  Postal voters Register History (New for X)  Joined the electoral register in the months leading up to the May elections in the year concerned  Anyone with marked register data  Postal voters  Joined as an year old Life Stage (In Student Accom)  In property coded as Student  Refers to codes in the Property Database Life Stage (In Elderly Accom)  In property coded as Elderly  Refers to codes in the Property Database Life Stage (HMOs)  Four or more surnames in the house  Three or more surnames in walks coded as HMO Life Stage (Likely Parent)  Demographically likely to be a parent  Add Lifestage tag to add or remove people Life Stage (Other under s)  Aged under according to their date of birth  Add Lifestage tag to add or remove people Life Stage (Parents: Adult kids at home) Life Stage (Middle age)  Older people who share a house with younger people of the same surname  Aged between and according to date of birth  Add Lifestage tag to add or remove people Life Stage (Aged +)  Aged and above according to date of birth  Add Lifestage tag to add or remove people Life Stage (Probably younger) Life Stage (Probably older)  Have name that makes them more likely to be young  People of known age  Have name that makes them more likely to be older  People of known age  Student Halls and Elderly Homes  Relies on local volunteers entering the marked registers  Relies on local volunteers entering the marked registers  Good group to target for postal votes  Only worth targeting if recent marked register data is incomplete  To be targeted or ignored depending on the turnover of new residents locally Can vary between and % year!  Refers to codes applied in Walk Manager  Add Lifestage tag to add or remove people Target Pool Includes Excludes Notes EU Referendum (Leans Remain)  Has been canvassed as Remain or demographically likely to be Remain  Canvassed as Leave  EU Nationals  Modelled Remain voters should be : against Brexit EU Referendum (Leans Leave)  Has been canvassed as Leave or is likely to be Leave based on demographics  Canvassed as Remain  EU Nationals  Modelled Leave voters should be : in favour of Brexit EU Referendum (Undecided)  Has been canvassed as Undecided or whose demographics do not suggest strong support for either side  Canvassed as Leave or Remain  EU Nationals  Asking about Europe will move them into the groups above EU Referendum (EU Nationals)  Could not vote in referendum due to EU citizenship  None  Worth targeting for local elections about their right to stay Labour / Tory Facing (Supporter) Labour / Tory Facing (Switch over Europe) Labour / Tory Facing (Switch)  Strong Lib Dem, Lib Dem, Weak Lib Dem  Probably or definitely Remain voters, in the canvass analysis categories of your main opponent  Demographically likely to be both Remain and supporters of your main opponent  Other voters with party points for both the Lib Dems and our main opponents  Anti-Corbyn Labour voters (Labour Facing only) Labour / Tory Facing (Squeeze)  Voters in canvass analysis categories other than those of our main opponents Labour / Tory Facing (Stay at Home) Labour / Tory Facing (Supporter+) Labour / Tory Facing (Switch+) Labour / Tory Facing (Squeeze+) Labour / Tory Facing (Stay at Home+)  Other voters in canvass analysis categories of our main opponents  Demographically likely to be Lib Dem  Not Lib Dem and Not Voting with no marked register data  UKIP in Wales & Scotland (as no Nationalist points applied)  Canvassed as Consider Lib Dem: No, Not Voting or Not Lib Dem since Referendum  Voters remain in this group until canvassed for another party Not Lib Dems are still targeted as historic supporters  Switch voters for whom Europe could be key issue  For targetting on issues other than Europe  Green voters treated as Labour  For targetting tactical voting messages  For avoiding  Limited to areas that bought Data+  Demographically likely to support our main opposition, but be open to our messages  Demographically likely to support the third party  Limited to areas that bought Data+  Demographically likely to support our main opposition  Limited to areas that bought Data+  Limited to areas that bought Data+ “Are we winning?” Creating and interpreting switch analysis Switch Analysis is the comparison of current voting intentions with past data, to work out how voters are “switching” between parties It can be used to answer questions like:  Are our past voters sticking with us? A switch analysis takes just seconds to create using Run Counts & Crosstabs with Format, which can be found in My List or in the Report Manager Select the Canvass Analysis, General or Local election format as appropriate and choose My List or one of your preprepared Saved Lists or Searches  Are we squeezing the third party?  Are we winning over floating voters? SEARCH STEP ONE: Create list of everyone who has given any answer to the canvass question you have used most  Who has the momentum? Will it work for me? Switch analysis relies on having a reasonable amount of both current data (from this campaign) and past data (from a previous campaign or nonelection canvassing) To provide decent comparison, at least few hundred voters need to have been canvassed twice before and after the cut off date, when the data was frozen What data can compare? We take snap shot of the data after every election The standard switch analysis compares with canvass analysis at the beginning of the current campaign, or voting intentions collected at the election four years ago (since most election cycles are four years in length) The preset Switch Analysis in Connect looks at Master Party ID If you’ve been using more than one question that maps to MPID, eg asking about the local and general election, then Connect will choose the most pessimistic response Set the “Canvassed From” date to the start of your campaign, or st July, whichever is most recent SEARCH STEP TWO: Add step to your search using the Contact Status tab Add everyone who has Refused to answer questions on the Doorstep, from the same date as in step one We don’t include “Refused”s from phoning because they tend to be misleadingly high Select *National* as your party organisation NOW: Save this search for regular use throughout the campaign Things to look for The Switch Analysis output shows the various canvass analysis categories (either grouped or in full) down the left hand side, as they were on the most recent cut off date The current voting intention is across the top, and only includes people canvassed since the most recent cut off date What proportion of the opposition groups are voting Lib Dem? What is the balance of our Supporters between Definite and Probable Lib Dems? Lib Dem Group: To get better result than last time we need a high retention rate of supporters, and would expect two thirds / one third split of definites to probables We can only afford to lose handful of voters to other parties High numbers of Not Lib Dem, Not Voting or Refused in this group should ring alarm bells You will find your Switch Analysis under Counts and Crosstabs Outputs, available from the top left portion of the Main Screen Where are the peaks in the opposition vote? Third & Fourth Parties (Squeeze): If we are not converting more than half of these to definite Lib Dems, then more targeted persuasion work is needed to improve our position on the last election large number of Not Lib Dem, Refused or Won’t Say (shown here as Unknown) could indicate hardening of the opposition support Where are our dissatisfied Supporters going? Main Opposition: The importance of this group will depend on whether you have enough Supporters and Squeeze voters identified to win If you’re relying on converting Switch voters, then you will need to look at the full break down of canvass analysis categories to see which we are winning and which we are losing Further analysis in Excel Any output can be exported or shared with other users within Connect You can also generate link which will allow people without Connect user account to access the report online without logging in Using conditional formatting in Excel can help to highlight peaks and troughs in the data Project the Lib Dem vote by multiplying the current numbers in various canvass analysis categories by the percentage that are definite Lib Dems Calculate your winning post as expected turnout electorate Sampling of the different canvass analysis categories can help you decide if ward is safe, needs extra resources or is lost cause It can also tell you which voters need targeting with more leaflets or contact But you need to be careful if your sample is biased by other vital targeted campaigning or if the numbers are too small to draw any safe conclusions Statistical rules of thumb Using the combination of the switch analysis and simple breakdown of your current S groups, it is possible to calculate number of indicators that predict your likelihood of victory RED - indicates value that suggests less than one in three chance of winning ward AMBER - indicates roughly : chance of winning ward individual ward is and prioritise your wards against each other Resources can then be moved from wards with very low or high chance of winning into those which are more marginal GREEN - indicates more than a two in three chance of winning You should always keep The table below shows Red / monitoring the stats week to Amber / Green rating for each of ward week throughout the campaign, six easily calculated values Taken together you can use even in relatively safe wards, to The definitions of the values in them to judge how winnable an prevent any nasty surprises each column is shown overleaf Size of Shuttle as D:P Ratio a % of vote target <% < % % - %+ + % Defs in % Defs in the Switch % Defs in S formula the canvass Squeeze as % of Lib Dem analysis groups vote target groups categories <% <% <% % - % % - % % - % %+ %+ %+ <% % % %+ Definitions of your key stats Size of Shuttleworth as % of vote target:For statistical purposes we will define your Shuttleworth as your Supporter group plus your Squeeze group Your vote target is your electorate, multiplied by the expected % turnout, multiplied by % of vote you think you need to win (half in cornered contest or less if you expect significant third or fourth party vote) Eg Supporters + Squeeze x % = Electorate Turnout Winning % + = % Ratio of Definites to Probables:Use the definite and probable Lib Dems collected using your main canvass question to calculate simple ratio: Eg No Of Definite Lib Dems No Of Probable Lib Dems = = % of Definites in your canvass analysis groups:Use your switch analysis to find these figures already calculated, in this case %, % and % respectively S formula as % of vote target:Compare projected Lib Dem vote, based on the findings of your switch analysis, with the number of votes you need to win Projected Lib Dem vote = + + Eg + + Def Lib Dems in Lib Dem group (%) No of Lib Dems Def Lib Dems in third party group (%) No of third party Def LDs in the Yellow main opposition CA category (%) No In the Yellow category % % % Vote target = electorate turnout % needed to win = = Projected Lib Dem vote as % of vote target = = % Introducing “Data Plus” to Target Pools Data Plus is way of segmenting voters for whom we have little or no canvass data Stay at Home (Plus), , Squeeze (Plus), , Unknowns, , Supporters, , Switch, , Squeeze, , It is used in many of the preset target pools which we create nationally They include the term (Plus) in their name or in the name of their sub-groups What is Data Plus? We have taken your canvass data and compared it with a variety of demographic data From that we can make an educated guess about which of the S groups they might otherwise fall into Does this mean don’t need to go canvassing? No! If you don’t speak to these people, they’re not going to vote for you, but what it does mean is that you can spend your time talking to the people who are going to be most receptive to your message, and you can send the right squeeze and switch messages to the right people Where can find Data Plus? Data Plus is incorporated into the “Four S” target pools giving you an extra four categories of: Switch (Plus), , Supporters (Plus), Stay at home, , Above is an example of how typical constituency breaks down into the Four “S” groups with Data Plus Using this data you can: Easily segment your mailings between Supporters, Switch and Squeeze even before canvassing them Plot voters on map to find the best areas for more leaflets Work out where to start when breaking new ground in “blackhole” areas The Doorstep Canvass (Plus) target pool also allows you to miss out the houses that contain voters unlikely to support us or unlikely to vote  Tier One of Doorstep Canvass (Plus) uses your canvass data and marked registers to find the high priority voters and excludes those that Data Plus says are least likely to support us  Tier Two uses Data Plus and other information to give you the best other voters to talk to if you are short of people in Tier One It is most useful if your marked register data is incomplete  Supporters (Plus)  Switch (Plus)  Squeeze (Plus)  Stay at Home (Plus) for people on whom we have no, or little, other data  All held seats and those on the Strategic Seat programme get this data for free Some Euro campaigns also paid for all the data in their region  Other seats may get the opportunity to buy into Data Plus again at some point - keep an eye out for more information Using Data Plus in practice In the Target Pools tab of Create List you can find the regular S groups, as well as the S (Plus) groups in Labour and Tory facing versions Use this along with other target pools like Register History, to come up with your mailing list and segment it to send targeted messages to supporters, squeeze voters and those considering the main opposition Use Maps and Counts and Crosstabs to analyse where your supporter, switch and squeeze groups live to decide where to go canvassing or to deliver additional literature Use the Doorstep Canvass (Plus) target pool in Create a List to draw up canvass list of people worth speaking to Add Householding step to make it “all in house” if you prefer MiniVAN Campaigns allow you to use different scripts for each of the four groups (see right) There are separate target pools with expanded Four S groups to include the SNP, Plaid Cymru, UKIP and the Green Party This uses data plus as well as independence referendum voting intentions to categorise people more effectively It allows you to send separate switch messages to soft Nationalist, Green Party and UKIP supporters so that you don’t unwittingly drive them The Multi-party facing target towards your opposition by The Scottish Direct Mail target pool is available on request treating them as squeeze pool is automatically available to Please put in Support Request voters everyone in Scotland within Connect and we can give your local party access Data Sharing - who can see what Connect is built around a structure of Party Organisations, sometimes called by their American name of Committees Party Organisations are groups of people who need to share data They can be local party, a regional party or the office of an MP, MEP or councillor Party Organisations are often named after geographical areas, but they don’t have to be For example, Liberal Youth and the party phone banks also have party organisations What are party organisations for? They are partly to provide a firewall for data protection purposes, so that private casework data is not shared with those that don’t need to know it They also help to keep the system neat and tidy, so that we all don’t have to wade through the thousands of questions and scripts created by every other user in the country Is that the only thing that affects data sharing? No, different types of data are shared in different ways In addition, your user profile determines the level of access you have to different types of data This Geek Sheet should help you understand more about how this sharing works As user, you can share many things that you create in Connect with others This includes questions, scripts, forms, folders (and the lists and searches in them), letter templates and virtual phone banks Any screens where you create any of the above will have one or more boxes at the bottom You can use them to share your work with one or more of the following:  Individual users in your party organisation  Individual users in other party organisations of which you are a member  Everyone in your party organisation, or other party organisations of which you are member  User groups in your party organisation  My Voters and / or My Campaign  Real and Training mode Data Sharing - quick guide Visible to All local users Also searchable by Connect Managers and Deputies on read-only basis nationwide using Quick Look Up only The Party Organisation Senior Activists in which it was created and above, with other Party Organisations of which they are a member The Party Organisation The *National* of the person who input Party the data (including via Organisation VPB) Local users in the Party Organisations with which it is shared Any user, IF the question is mapped to a master question All users in the Party Organisation of origin Senior Activists and above using the *National* results group (found at the top of the Party Organisation drop down menu) Tags All (with some local exceptions) Lib Dem HQ Membership information All (in My Voters) and inserted into local Party Organisation in My Campaign Lib Dem HQ from the MDO (every month or so) All (with some All (with some local local exceptions) exceptions) Senior Activists and above Notes The Party Organisation of the person who input the data (including via a VPB) Not sharable, can be transferred on request Contact details, personal stats, suppressions, voting history, canvass analysis and postal vote status Questions Contact History Shared with All - including between My Voters and My Campaign (where relevant) User Groups are quick and easy way of sharing things like Virtual Phone Banks with the same group of people again and again You can create new user group by following the User Group link and Add New User Group button from the left hand side of the main screen of Connect Shared by Connect automatically Users in the Party Organisation of origin You can then add your users to these groups - either one at a time in their user profile (see below), or in bulk, using the Quick Actions drop down menu on the Users page Am knocking up the right people? Just because it’s polling day, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t ask which way people are voting Even on the day we can use this information to help us win Select the question you are using in your polling day script The standard national polling day scripts include question asking which way people are going to vote Select Canvass Analysis and tick the Show Percentages box By entering that data, we can compare the responses for different groups, in order to decide whether our knock up is being effective What do do with the data once I’ve got it? Every voter has Canvass Analysis which summarises their past canvass data For example “Weak Lib Dem” or “Yellow Conservative” Normally this changes as soon as we enter more data, but on polling day in major elections it remains frozen So, if we find the Red Lib Dems are not voting for us, we can stop reminding them to vote Where can compare my new data with my old data? In Counts and Crosstabs you can compare any two data sets Choose your polling day voting intention question in Crosstab and Canvass Analysis in Column and hit Refresh Compare the percentage of each group who are saying Definitely or Probably Lib Dem Here the Weak Lib Dems are under performing We’re knocking up more people who are voting against us than are voting for us We should change the Shuttleworth (knock up list) to exclude the Weak Lib Dems from now on Above is an example screen from Counts and Crosstabs To make it easier to read you can make list of people who have answered the question in If more people are voting for our My List first, and then run this main opponent than us, or we’re report just for that list getting such low return on the You can look at all of your data group it’s not worth our time, or break it down by ward, to then consider dropping them compare how things are going in different places In local election, this may also inform a decision to concentrate on those wards that are looking most marginal At the election we will create a Counts and Crosstabs Format that you can run for use with the national questions Are my supporters turning out to vote? You can choose to look at raw numbers or percentages You can break down stats by ward and polling district You can compare turnout between any groups or saved lists you like We recommend the simplest option of Canvass Analysis, ie turnout by party Lib Dems often win elections by differential turnout That means that we get more of our supporters out to vote than the opposition do of theirs If we are entering telling data, we can track turnout in Connect using the View Stats link under the Get Out the Vote tab This column shows the turnout amongst all voters This page lets you set up your report and export it (you’ll need to hit Refresh first) Experiment with the options before polling day and save your settings with the Remember Me button You can then move resources to the polling districts where our vote is staying at home This will help us achieve differential turnout with our opposition The difference between our Below is an example export file turnout and theirs is known as You can use it to see where “The Premium” and should be your vote is and isn’t turning out as large as possible Each party has column to show what percentage of their supporters have voted (D,F & H), and column to show what percentage of the people who’ve voted are canvassed as that party (E,G & I) If our turnout is ahead, the numbers in our first column will be larger than those in the opposition first column  Turnout patterns vary depending on demographics For example, older people will vote early, young parents at school closing time, commuters in the evening etc The graph above shows how Tories tend to vote early and Labour after work Keep this in mind when comparing opposition turnout to your own  Typically we’ll be behind and catch up in Conservative areas In Labour areas we’ll be ahead early and lose ground later  If you have not done polling day in your seat before, talk to a local about what to expect and factor it in to your thinking Connect Guide to Register Updates The electoral roll is your list of voters in Connect - found under the My Voters tab Where does it come from? Your local authority collates the list in the Autumn and usually publishes it on December st Updates of additions and deletions are available on the first of every month from January until September Additional updates are also done immediately before elections Lib Dem HQ contact the council on your behalf and obtain this data as quickly as possible It is uploaded into Connect once a month, usually on the second Tuesday How up to date is it? You can see when the most recent update for your council was added to Connect by looking in the “Help Wiki”, in the top right of the Connect homepage When new voters appear on the electoral roll, there are a couple of things you need to do to ensure they appear in your delivery walks and canvass lists in the correct place ) In Walk Manager, go into each polling district in turn, click on Edit All Walks, allow the map to load, check that no dots are unallocated and then click Save And Finish ) If you have sorted your streets, then click on the Streets Sorted link by each polling district and see if the status of any streets have changed from Sorted to In Progress New properties will be added at the end of each street, so move them into place and alter the status to Sorted before saving If your local council is going to change the ward or polling district boundaries, then they will probably republish the entire register When this happens, you may lose your walk data in Walk Manager Some users may also lose their Connect access Your walks will only disappear if the names the council uses for each polling district change The cover sheets will appear on the My PDF Files page, accessible via the top left hand side of the Sometimes this may just happen Connect home to limited number of them, but page if you’re unlucky it could apply to the entire local authority area User access What can do to help? If you are keen to ensure that the register gets updated at the earliest opportunity, then your local DNO can also request the file from your council and upload it to the LDHQ server using our secure link Visit datalibdemsorguk for more information To make the process of recutting your walks quicker, you should create PDFs of your walk sheets before the register update so that you have something to refer back to This can be done in Walk Manager, using the Print All Cover Sheets option next to each polling district name Users whose access rights have been assigned by ward or by polling district will lose that access if the names of the ward or polling district change Your Connect Manager will need to assign the new names to them using the Assign People link on the user’s record Postal voters Currently LDHQ do NOT collect postal voter files from Councils on regular basis As such, it is up to you to request them as and when you want them, and to load them into Connect via Bulk Upload Before you upload new file Information about who has a postal vote is held in the Ballot Type field in Connect When you want to update this information, you will need to request that the old data be removed - this is not something you can do yourself As well as uploading new postal voters into Connect using Bulk Upload, you can also upload your data file as Saved List at the same time This is good way of keeping track of who has gained a postal vote and who has lost one You can then take action if some of your supporters have not renewed their postal votes For more To request the Ballot Type field be information on cleared, please complete the Bulk Upload see online form at: Quick Sheet section libdemsorguk/clear-my-pvs Tracking people who move house LDHQ run matching program roughly once year to track voters who have moved house This takes place around February, after the process of updating all new registers has been finished Voters who have been tracked with high level of probability have their previous record fully merged into their new one Lower probability matches Other voters whose match is probable, but less certain, will have small number of party points applied to put them in the correct Canvass Analysis group without any specific contacts or questions being applied This process may mean that their record appears blank even though they have canvass analysis category assigned This is normal and no reason to be concerned, but please put in Support Request if you have any questions about specific voters There are two places in Connect where you can access information about previous registers The first is in the Poll Number Log of each voter record, where you can see their previous polling numbers, the local authority they were from and the date on which that poll number was replaced with a new one The main reason for this record is to assist with the legal reporting of political donations for which the poll number at the time of the donation is required The second place, is the Marked Register Export feature, which allows you to download complete file of how the register looked (in Connect) on particular date, going back two years This feature allows you to upload data on who voted in past election even after the poll numbers change It can be found under the Advanced Menu in the bottom left corner of the main Connect screen See Quick Sheet section for more information