The “Polling Place Lookup” question type in the Scale to Win Dialer allows you to insert the “IWillVote” polling place locator tool directly into your calling script.
Your callers can use this lookup tool while on the phone with a voter to help that voter find their nearest polling location, ballot dropbox, and/or early voting location.
An example of the Polling Place Lookup question type in the Scale to Win Dialer caller interface.
Important Note: This feature’s polling place information comes from iwillvote.com.
The polling place, ballot dropbox, and early voting location information provided in the tool does not come from, nor can it be edited by, Scale to Win.
Check with your state Democratic Party to determine the accuracy of IWillVote.com’s Polling Place Locator in your State.
Read more below in the section titled, “Details About the “I Will Vote” Polling Place Lookup Tool.”
Adding the Polling Place Lookup to Your Call Script.
Follow the steps below to incorporate this tool into your calling campaign’s script.
1. Add the Question Type to Your Script
During “Step 3: Write Questions” of your campaign creation process, create a new question and navigate to the “Question Type” dropdown menu.
The “Question Type” dropdown menu in the script-building step of the campaign creation process.
From the “Question Type” dropdown menu, select “Polling Place Lookup.”
The “Polling Place Lookup” option contained in the “Question Type” dropdown menu.
Information on setting up the Polling Place Lookup question type will then appear:
The “Polling Place Lookup” Question Type in the script-building interface.
As shown in the photo above, the polling place lookup tool will prefill each callee’s contact information (address and/or zip) into the polling place locator tool during your calls if you map address and/or zip when you upload your list. If you import a list via NGP VAN, this will be done for you automatically.
2. Write Your Question Script
As with all question types, you can type the script you’d like your callers to see in the “Question Script.”
The “Question Script” box in the script-building interface.
Remember: If your contact list contains addresses for some or all of the contacts on your list, available addresses will automatically auto-populate in the polling place lookup tool displayed to your callers, assuming you mapped those addresses to the “Address Line 1” and “Zip” fields in “Step 4: Add Contacts” of the campaign creation process.
Because of this, we recommend you phrase your script based on whether or not the contact list you’ll upload next in “Step 4: Add Contacts” contains the addresses of the contacts you’ll be calling.
If your contact list contains addresses for all contacts on the list, we recommend your script asks callers to read out the voter’s address (displayed in the script) and confirm that it’s correct and current. Remember, voter file addresses may not be up to date, so it’s important to confirm the callee still lives at the address you’ve got on file.
An example question script to use to have callers confirm that the address that’s auto-populated in the call script is the voter’s correct address.
If your contact list does not contain the contacts’ addresses, then your callers should ask the voter to say or spell out their address and zip code, for the callers to type into the polling place lookup tool.
An example question script to use when your contact list does not contain voters’ addresses.
If your contact list contains some but not all of the contacts’ addresses, have your callers confirm that the listed address is the correct one or ask them to spell out their address, if not displayed.
An example question script to use when your contact list contains some but not all of the voters’ addresses.
Once you’ve finished setting up your question, as always, be sure to use the “Action” dropdown menu at the bottom of the page to specify to which next question the script should lead.
The “Action” dropdown menu at the bottom of the script-building interface.
3. Upload Your Contact List in the “Add Contacts” Step and Map the Address and Zip Code Fields
In “Step 4: Add Contacts,” upload your list of contacts for this calling campaign, as per usual.
If your list contains addresses for some of all of the contacts contained within it, those addresses will automatically auto-populate in the polling place lookup tool displayed to your callers.
If your list does contain some or all of the contacts’ addresses, once you’ve uploaded it, make sure that “Address Line 1” and “Zip” are ‘mapped’ to the correct CSV column or VAN field. This is necessary to automatically populate these fields within our Polling Place Lookup feature.
The “Add Contacts” step, where you upload your contact list and map your fields.
If you navigate back to “Step 3: Write Questions,” you’ll see that “Address Line 1” and “Zip” now have a green, circular checkmark next to them, rather than a gray “X.” If they do not, go back to “Step 4: Add Contacts” and make sure these two fields are correctly mapped and saved.
If/when the “Address Line 1” and “Zip” fields have been mapped in “Step 4: Add Contacts,” a green checkmark will appear next to them here in the Polling Place Lookup question setup in “Step 3: Write Questions.”
How Callers Use the Polling Place Lookup Tool.
Using the Tool
When your callers encounter a Polling Place Lookup question in the caller interface, they’ll see:
1) the script you wrote for this question
2) a box with fields for the voter’s address and zip code
If the contact list you uploaded to this campaign contained the address and zip code of the voter with whom the caller is speaking, the voter’s address and zip code will be auto-populated in these fields, as shown below.
The Polling Place Lookup tool in the caller interface, with the voter’s address and zip code pre-populated.
If the contact list you uploaded did not contain the address and zip code of the voter with whom the caller is speaking, the address and zip code fields will be blank. The callers should ask the voter for their address and zip code, and enter them into the fields accordingly.
The Polling Place Lookup tool in the caller interface, with the address and zip code fields not pre-populated.
In either case, after clicking the “Look Up Polling Place” button, the results of the search will appear, as shown below:
An example of the Polling Place Lookup tool search results in the caller interface.
Features of the Tool
Callers can use the buttons above the map to toggle between looking up the a) Early Vote Locations, b) Ballot Drop-Off Locations, and c) Election Day Voting Locations of the voter whose address they input into the lookup tool.
Note that not all voting location types will be available for all voters. To read more about current polling place lookup coverage, consult your state Democratic Party.
The buttons that callers can use to toggle between looking up different types of voting location information for the voters with whom they speak.
Also, for each of those three location categories, the caller can use the arrow buttons below the map to view multiple location options, e.g. in cases where the voter may drop off their ballot or vote early at multiple locations, and read them out to the voter.
The arrow buttons that callers can use to page between multiple voting location options for the voters with whom they speak.
Finally, the caller can use the “Change Address” button if they need to edit or re-enter the voter’s address or zip code.
The “Change Address” button in the Polling Place Lookup tool.
Addresses Without Polling Place Information
If a caller inputs into the Polling Place Lookup tool an address for which there isn’t yet verified polling place information, an address in an area where polling place information is still being collected, or an unverified address, they may receive one of the following alert messages in their search results.
1) Addresses without verified polling place information
If a caller inputs an address into the Polling Place Lookup tool for which iwillvote.com does not currently have verified polling place information, the lookup tool will return a result similar to the following:
An example search result when the I Will Vote polling place lookup tool does not have verified polling place information for the address entered.
The caller can advise the voter to check their state’s election website for their polling place information. Or, the caller can do so for the voter while on the phone, by opening a new tab or window in their web browser and navigating to the link displayed.
2) Addresses in areas where polling place info is still being collected
If a caller inputs an address into the Polling Place Lookup tool in a state or county for which polling locations are still being collected, the lookup tool will return a polling place result, but may also include an alert message similar to the following:
An example search result when I Will Vote is still collecting polling location information for some counties in the given state.
3) Unrecognized addresses
If a caller inputs an address into the Polling Place Lookup tool that iwillvote.com does not recognize, the lookup tool will return a result similar to the following:
An example search result when the I Will Vote polling place lookup tool does not recognize the address entered.
The caller should ask the voter to confirm and spell out their address and zip code one more time, to check it for accuracy.
Details About the “I Will Vote” Polling Place Lookup Tool.
Polling Place Lookup Tool Source
The information in the Polling Place Lookup question type in the Scale to Win Dialer comes from iwillvote.com. This is a resource built and maintained by the Democratic National Committee.
The Polling Place Lookup question type is simply an embedded version of iwillvote.com’s polling place locator tool. The polling place, ballot dropbox, and early voting location information provided in the tool does not come from, nor can it be edited by, Scale to Win.
Polling Place Coverage Information and Accuracy
The I Will Vote team is constantly collecting and confirming polling place, ballot dropbox, and early voting location information from election departments in every state and county in the United States.
That said, as we are not currently in a national electoral season, not every county and state will have released updated polling place information for upcoming elections.
Additionally, local election departments sometimes make last-minute changes to polling places, ballot dropboxes, and early voting locations. (For example, a local polling location like a school gymnasium could flood the day before the election.)
Accessing Polling Place Lookup Data from Your Campaign.
The “View Results” Page
In the “Campaign Results” section of the “View Results” page for your calling campaign, there will be a bar graph indicating the results of your Polling Place Lookup question.
This will show you how many times your callers indicated they looked up voters’ polling places during this call campaign, versus how many times they pressed the “Skip this Question” button and did not look up the voter’s polling place.
An example of the results displayed for the Polling Place Lookup question type on a calling campaign’s “View Results” page.
The CSV Export
If you’ve included a Polling Place Lookup in your calling campaign, then the campaign’s CSV export will contain columns recording the address and zip code your callers entered into the polling place lookup tool for each voter with whom they spoke.
An example of the columns in a campaign’s CSV export displaying the addresses and zip codes your callers entered into the polling place lookup tool for each voter.