Frequently Asked Questions

Election Districts 2024 

States and Chambers that will use new boundaries for their 2024 Elections.  We have these districts available now!

  • Ohio State Senate and House - available Feb 21st online
  • Wisconsin State Senate and House -available Feb 21st online
  • Alabama Congressional
  • California State Senate
  • Georgia Congressional, State Senate and State House
  • Kansas State Senate
  • Louisiana Congressional 
  • Montana State Senate and State House
  • New Mexico State Senate
  • New York State Assembly 
  • North Carolina Congressional, State Senate and State House
  • South Carolina State Senate and State House
  • North Dakota State House




How do I tell what the codes mean in each field in my file? Do you have a Data Dictionary?

Each file created on VLO comes in a zip file with a File layout for the specific fields included in each unique file.
If you are interested in reviewing all of our field options we do have a Data Dictionary. Click this link to download our
Field Definitions excel document.

Click Here for a New Movers Fields Tipsheet 




How can I obtain the "Best" Phones for my Phone Program

Start on the Query Builder Screen –




How do you use the Custom Searching ?

The Custom Searching Menu has two options.

This option provides a tool to select one of the fields available in the database from a picklist, select the Boolian connector you want to use and then in the large text box enter a value or list of values you want to use in your query.  For instance, you could select ZIP CODE from the Picklist, select "exactly equal to" as your connector and then Copy/Paste into the text box a list of zipcodes from excel or word and then click to add to your query.  Whilte you car use the option under Jurisdiction to find the ssame list of zipcodes, using custom search speeds up and simplifies the process.  

If you select a field such as City or Municipality and are searching for an entity that contains two words.  Ex. Los Angeles you will need to put quotation marks around your datapoint in order that the system search for the full name "Los Angeles".  In general If your search item contains a comma or space, enclose the entire item within double quotes. (e.g. If you are looking for Maryland City, specify "Maryland City").

For "partially contain" operations, you can use wildcard characters to search for data.
(Searches including wildcard must be enclosed in double quotes)

Wildcard Meaning Example

% match zero or more characters "%smith%" will match "smith","blacksmith","smithson"
_ match any single character "t_d" will match "ted","tod"
[charlist] match any single character specified in charlist b[aei]d will match "bad","bed","bid"
[^charlist] match any single character NOT specified in charlist b[^aei]d will match "bud"




How do you use the Breakout menu option?

This option provides an additional location for querying any of the fields available on VLO and getting an onscreen list of values and counts for each selected field. These counts can be output to excel or HTML.  

You can also use this option to query on fields not available in other locations/menus within VLO.  

For example:

If you have selected a County and added it to your query and and would like to see a breakout of voters by zipcode.  Your net step would be to select BREAKOUT from left menu, click in the top search box and type zip  -- you will be presented on screen with all available fields in the data that include the word zip.  You would select ZIP / Residence Zip Code. An alternative is to scroll through the entire alpha ordered list of available fields and make your selection by placing a checkmark in the box onscreen and click the button labeled BREAKOUT.  

Displayed at the bottom of the screen will be a list of all possible values for that field along with the count for each. (This list will be predicated on query selections you have previously made. For example if you chose one zipcode your values and counts will reflect ONLY records found in your selected zipcode.

If the top line displays a count but no values this is a count of records with no code in the selected field. Each of the following lines will be a value with the corresponding count of records.   Our Data Dictionary can provide the English translations if needed for displayed values.  A link to our dictionary is found on every State Summary page as well as here in FAQs.

At this point you can generate a Breakout Spreadsheet by clicking the Excel icon on the bottom tool bar and/or add selected records to a Snippet or add to your Query. 

Custom Search Breakout is a good tool for viewing what the actual data looks like in a field. Particularly useful when searching for Precincts, Wards, Precinct Names and other down ballot datapoints.




What is the VLO Pivot Table and how do I use it?

VLO’s Pivot Table tool provides the ability to output summary stats/counts along multiple dimensions.

You can generate these summary stats by each of the various count types:

  • Unique Individual
  • Unique Household
  • Unique Address
  • Unique Phone
  • Unique Household Phone
  • Unique Mobile Phone
  • Unique Household Mobile Phone
  • Unique All Phones
  • Unique Email
  • Unique Household Email
  • Unique Address Phone
  • Unique Address Mobile

Step 1 – Select Count Type (see list above) from onscreen menu

Step 2 – Select Fields to use for Columns/Rows

  • Use the FIND A FIELD text box to type in the field name and select the appropriate option or scroll down the list (list is in alpha order) to find your field
  • Add the field to either ROW or COLUMN by one of two methods
    • Drag and Drop when you see the Green Checkmark
    • Highlight the field (when highlighted it will turn Orange) and click the Green Plus Sign to add the field to the appropriate location (COLUMN/ROW)
  • It is possible to have multiple ROWS/COLUMNS fields

Step 3 – Click the EXECUTE button to Create your Pivot Table

Step 4 – Select your output option – HTML or Excel and Click to Output your table.

NOTES: 

  • Blank Rows or Columns indicate no values for that particular cell/group of cells
  • Options for Full Screen view, Clearing Pivot options, Refreshing the display and Viewing the underlying Query are available on left side of screen above the list of fields

EXAMPLE:  Suppose you have generated a count of unique phone numbers statewide with a certain criteria set and within this criteria set you wish to see summary counts by county and political party.

  1. Select “Phone” from the count type dropdown if you wish to count only unique phones in your summary counts.
  2. Select County from the field list and drag it/add it to your ROW option
  3. Select Party Code from the field list and drag it/add it to your COLUMN option
  4. Click the “EXECUTE” button.
    1. When the results are generated, they will display onscreen with the county codes down the left side of the grid and the party codes across the top in a cross-tabular format.
  5. Click your OUTPUT format preference to create your file. (Excel or HTML)




What do all the different Values in the Vote History fields mean?

Vote History Values vary by state and by election.  The values listed here may be found in any of the VH fields.  

All information where available
Y = Voted
A = Absentee
E = Early
D = Democrat
M = Democrat Early
Z = Democrat Absentee
R = Republican
P = Republican Early
X = Republican Absentee




How to use the Customizable Output Templates?

Click this link to download our VLO Template Guide




I see that Mobile Phones are available. How do I use them and what is the price?

MOBILE PHONES are an option under “Add Phone”.

You can refer to our pricing page for details on our standard (non Contract) per record pricing. A link to the Pricing Page is under HELP on the left menu.

There are two methods for generating a file that includes Mobile numbers.

-- You have the ability to select records that ONLY have Mobile phones or Select Records that have both Landlines and Mobile Phones during the query building process.

--Clients building a query with no phone criteria at all will still have the option to include MOBILE phone numbers in their export file (along with standard phone field) in the record by checking a box on screen two of the check out process.

IMPORTANT:Clients using existing Download templates need to add the MOBILE_NUM field to their output template in order to download the selected mobile phones. It is included by default in new Default Templates. It is located in the "Individual" Group in your Template Editor.
 




What Suppression (deduping) options are available on VLO?

VLO provides several options for uploading files and using these files for suppression purposes when creating a query.

On the left menu under UPLOADS there are options for

  • Individual Suppression
  • Phone Suppression
  • Mobile Suppression
  • Email Suppression
  • Address Suppression

 

  • Clicking any one of these options opens a page providing instructions on how to upload your file.
  • All files need to be in text format (extension .txt)
  • You can select one or more states to use in your suppression upload.
  • The Dedupe/Suppression features can be used with our Voter and Consumers Databases
  • You can “Add” as many files as you want to your upload. Once you have added all the files you want to use you must click the GREEN “SEND NOW” button to complete the upload and send your file(s) to our server.
  • The uploaded files will be matched against our files and you will receive an Email Notification once the upload is completed that will indicate how many of your records matched to our database.
  • The matching Count Type at the top of the page will reflect counts including the Dedupe file.  Example: if you upload a Mobile Phone dedupe file, the Unique Mobiles Count will reflect the number of mobiles in our databased on your query minus the mobiles we matched to in your uploaded suppression list.
  • Important to note that it is likely that not all of your phones, addresses, emails will match to records found in our databases.  Your email notification will let you know how many did match.

 

The information above is available HERE as a PDF as well.

******




What kind of Polling Samples does Voterlistsonline.com offer?

Voterlistsonline.com offers the following options:

1.No polling sample - All records fitting the selected criteria are exported.

2.Random Sample - The user enters the number of records they wish to export, for example 5,000. All the records fitting the select criteria are assigned a random number and ordered by this random number. The first 5,000 records (per this example) would then be selected for export.

3.Targeted Random Sample - The user selects a target field, for example congressional district. By clicking on the “allocate” button, the application will display the list of values in the selected field and count of available records per each. Using the congressional district example, all of the congressional districts and the count of records per each one meeting the selected criteria would be displayed. The user then goes through the list and enters the number of records per each congressional district they wish to pull. For example, the user might want 1,000 records from each congressional district. The final file will consist of the total number of records selected by the user, allocated as the user specifies based on the target field selected.

4.Cluster Sample with target group of - Records fitting the selected criteria are ordered using a geographic sort. The user then selects the number of clusters they wish to pull, and how many records should be in each cluster (cluster size). For example, the user may specify 100 clusters of 25 records each (for a total of 2500 records). The records fitting the selected criteria would then be segmented into 100 clusters, and the top 25 records from each cluster will be selected for export. (Note that if you choose to export voters instead of households, you will very likely get multiple members of each household as they will be ordered together geographically).

5. Cluster Sample with target group of --fieldname- - Performs the same as a cluster sample with no target group defined, except that when a target group is selected the application will pull the requested number of clusters per each value in the target field. For example, if the user specifies 100 clusters with a size of 25 with a target group of “congressional district”, the application will pull 100 clusters of size 25 for each available congressional district in the sample universe. Thus if the user has a query defined which contains three different congressional districts, the final pull would be 7500 records instead of 2500 if no target group were selected.

6. Normalized Random Sample - The Normalized Random Sample option allows the user to make a random pull proportioned according to the counts of available records in a group of selected target fields. For example a user might wish to generate a 25,000 record sample normalized by gender and party. In this case the user would enter the total number of records desired (in this case 25,000) and then select which clauses in their query should define the universe from which to base the normalized sample. If the user does not select any clauses, the universe will consist of the entire population of non-moved/non-dead records in the state(s) being queried. To normalize on gender and party the user would then select gender and party from the list of fields. The pull is made by first counting the numbers of each gender and party combination in the defined universe, and then making a proportionate pull based on those percentages to arrive at the total number of records requested.

Pricing for Samples is by record.




I see Profile Fields on Voterlistsonline. What are these?

Aristotle's Data Team has created "Vote Profiles" to help our users target voters "likely" to be interested in or support a variety of causes and initiatives. Click Here for a summary of our Voter Profiles.




Under the PARTY option in some states I see "Inferred Democrat" and "Inferred Republican". How is this determined?


We have coded voters in states where there is no party registration and no primary vote history by party in order to help identify likely party voters.

States where there is no party registration and no primary vote history by party:

The method for the states listed below is (don_polcons >’’ or fund_polit = ‘R’) and don_pollib = ‘’ and fund_polit not D for inferred republican. The opposite for inferred democrat.
.
• AL • HI • ID • MI • MN • MO • MT • VT • WA • WI • ND

States where there is party registration and no primary vote history by party:

For primary states we use voted at least twice R any method and not more than D any method 1 time for inferred R , and the opposite for D. the primary states are listed below:

• AR • GA • IL • IN • MS • SC • TN • TX • VA




How do I figure out the County name? All I see are 3 digit numbers? (FIPS code to County Translation Help)

The three digit numbers in the county_st field are FIPS codes. Each state and its counties have unique numbers. The five digit code in our FIPS to COUNTY translation sheet is a combination of the two digit state number followed by the three digit County FIPS. FIPS Code to County Translation




Can I Target by Age Range when using Targeted Random Sampling?

Yes, after you have created your sample universe:

- click the "Checkout" button

- Follow the checkout process to Step 3 - Sample

- There you can create an "Inferred Field" (one that doesn't exist as a single field in the database) by clicking on the "Inferred Field" Button and following these instructions: Creating Inferred Fields

**You can use this option to create other Inferred Fields as well. An example would be an "Inferred City Council District" where the district number is a combination of precinct and ward and there is no distinct City Council District value on the voter file.




I need a CASS report for my bulk mailing. Where can I find one?

Click this link to access a directory of CASS Reports. On the displayed page select the State you need by clicking the hyperlink. The downloaded file will be in zip format. In addition, on your MY FILES page included in the dropdown menu for each purchased file is an option to download the CASS report.




What is Change of Address Update?

Every address is passed through a United States Postal Service (USPS) Change Of Address (COA) database monthly, standardizing all addresses and updating the address of those individuals who have moved and filed a COA with the USPS.




Where can I read the details of the FCC Enforcement Advisory No. 2012-06 governing political robocalls?

Click here for a link to the FCC site and the actual document.




Can I run a Account Useage Report for any selected period?

In order to generate a Account Usage Report

  • Login to your Account at www.voterlistsonline.com
  • Click on the My Account Tab
  • On the right side of the displayed screen select the date range you are interested in
  • Click GENERATE REPORT button
  • Click either the PDF or Excel icon (under the generate report button) to open the version you want.
  • This will display all files generated and downloaded by your account during that time period.




How are Phone Lists and Walk Sheets ordered?

These paper output formats are ordered by :

  • Ward,
  • Precinct (prec_no1)
  • Zipcode (zip)
  • Pre DIrection (pre_dir)
  • Street Name (st_name)
  • Street Suffix (st_suff)
  • Odd/Even Address  (odd_ev_add)
  • House # & Apt #
  • Last Name (lastname)
  • First Name (firstname)

It is also an option to output your excel (csv) file in Walk List order. 




Why won't the downloaded file open? It was supposed to be an Excel file...

All the files are "zipped" or compressed prior to downloading. This keeps the time to download kept to a minimum.

WinZip is a pretty common software package designed to open this type of file. A trial version of the software is available free by visiting www.winzip.com, although some e-mail programs (including America Online) will decompress these files automatically.

Once decompressed or "unzipped", the resulting file (with the same name but a different extension) is a csv (other other type if selected by the user) that can be opened with Excel.




Are the lists of all registered voters, or actual voters?

Aristotle compiles these lists of registered voters from Secretaries of State, county boards of election and the like. In some cases they even include voters marked as inactive (in the status field).  The vote history fields indicate whether each voter actually participated in a given election, but not for whom the voter voted, of course.

Keep in mind that the vote history data vary greatly and in some regions are not available at all.




How do I search for a specific aged voter in DC?

The DC Voter file contains an Age Category for each voter rather than a specific birthdate or age. When DC is your selected “state” the option to search “Age Category” will appear under the Demographics portion of your query builder.




Why does the number of male voters plus the number of female voters not add up to the total number of voters?

When gender is not provided by the source, we assign a sex based on the FIRSTNAME.

For some names, we can't be sure (Pat, Chris, etc.), and for uncommon names, we simply don't know.fi and hence the field is left blank.




Where can I find State Specific Details about each state voter file? Things like, the age of the file, the last time it was processed for Change of Address, had the phones refreshed.

On the Query Buider for Voter Data next to the State Selection dropdown menu is a link to our State Summary page. Each State Summary page has two tabs. One that contains specifics about the processing dates: Acquisition Date, COA Date, DNC date,
Phone Refresh and Email refresh dates and the other tab has details about the specific state voter file as well as links to helpful documents such as 

  • Link to the Data Dictionary
  • Link to Vote History Mapping Spreadsheet
  • Link to Vote History Spreadsheet
  • Link to online Video Tutorial
  • Information on Source Data Fields
  • Statistics for Current File

And in some states links to outside resources for help in determining districts.




What does collection date refer to?

Collection date reflects the date when the voter file was received from the source.




How is Congressional District Determined in the voter list?

The district information is determined, displayed, and downloaded according to the information provided by the registrar of voters at the time of acquisition of the voter file.

The registrar and the NCOA processing may indicate a mail or home address other than inside the registrar assigned district. Individuals who may have moved, re-registered or been removed from the registrars list since the time of acquisition may still be present on this list.

VLO does not perform any re-assignment of districts. If you chose to “Exclude Movers”, normally the default, VLO will exclude individuals who have been identified by the Aristotle NCOA process as moving irrespective of the nature of the move. This may not exclude all non-district individuals.




What do the various letter codes mean in the Vote History fields?

The following is a list of possible values found in vote history fields. Not all values are used in all states or even in all elections in each state.

Y = Voted

A = Absentee Voter

E = Early Voter

D = Democrat

M = Democrat Early Voter

Z = Democrat Absentee Voter

R = Republican

P = Republican Early Voter

X = Republican Absentee Voter




Age/Date of Birth - I see several similar fields related to Age and Date of Birth where does this information come from and why are there so many?

There are six fields used to identify a voters age and/or date of birth.

Because the data comes from differing sources we keep this information in different fields. All of the detail below is also available in our Data Dictionary and is included in your file layout when purchasing a file if you have selected to include these fields in your output file.

  • AGE is a calculated field which uses several different sources to determine a hard age for the voter as of the date the file was processed.
  • AGE INDICATOR is a calculated field using AGE to create Age Bands for use in selecting ranges of voters
  • AGE SOURCE is a field containing a code that lets you know how we calculated the AGE.
  • BIRTH DATE is from the source only - and can be a full Birth Date or a year only.
  • DATE OF BIRTH comes from our match to consumer data and can be self reported but not always
  • DATE OF BIRTH RANGE is a calculated field based on DATE OF BIRTH




Is VLO using/displaying 2020 Census Data?

Yes, all our states have been updated with 2020 Census information.




A select run yesterday for voters age 55+ had one count, but the same criteria input today resulted in a slightly different count. Why?

As an online product, VLO calculates age based on the date of the select.

So any given voter may cross into one age range and out of another on their birthday. From day to day, these will not change dramatically, though.




What are the State restrictions pertaining to the use of Voter data?

The state restrictions to the use of the data can be found on each State Summary page. You can access the State Summary page by clicking the link to the right of the State Selection Dropdown in VLO 2.0. All of our voter files are delivered to our users via a secure FTP download link There are 2 states-Pennsylvania and Arizona with more stringent protection in place. These state files are delivered via FTP link as well but are password protected.

The information gained from Voterlistsonline.com is not to be considered a consumer report (as that term is defined in the Fair Credit Reporting Act 15 U.S.C. sec 1681) and may not be used to determine a consumer's eligibility for credit or insurance for personal, family or household purposes, employment or a government license or benefit.

For further information about each state’s authorized use of the voter data, please refer to the following list:

ALABAMA

Restricted to Electoral purposes only.

ALASKA

UNRESTRICTED

ARIZONA

POLITICAL

ARKANSAS

UNRESTRICTED

CALIFORNIA

POLITICAL AND SCHOLARLY

COLORADO

UNRESTRICTED

CONNECTICUT

UNRESTRICTED

DC

UNRESTRICTED

DELAWARE

UNRESTRICTED

FLORIDA

UNRESTRICTED

GEORGIA

NON-COMMERCIAL

HAWAII

ELECTION AND GOVERNMENT USE

IDAHO

NON-COMMERCIAL

ILLINOIS

POLITICAL

INDIANA

POLITICAL

IOWA

POLITICAL

KANSAS

NON-COMMERCIAL

KENTUCKY

NON-COMMERCIAL

LOUISIANA

UNRESTRICTED

MAINE

POLITICAL, CAMPAIGN and ELECTION use only

MARYLAND

Maryland voter data may be used for purposes related to the electoral process only.

MASSACHUSETTS

UNRESTRICTED

MICHIGAN

UNRESTRICTED

MINNESOTA

POLITICAL

MISSISSIPPI

Mississippi Voter Data shall not be used for the purpose of mailing or delivering any solicitation for money, services or anything of value

MISSOURI

NON-COMMERCIAL

MONTANA

NON-COMMERCIAL

NEBRASKA

POLITICAL

NEVADA

UNRESTRICTED

NEW HAMPSHIRE

May not be used for any solicitation, commercial or non-profit, that is unrelated to elections or political campaigns

NEW JERSEY

UNRESTRICTED EXCEPT NO COMMERCIAL SOLICITATION

NEW MEXICO

Restrictions include but not limited to Section 105024 of the New Mexico Election Code: I hereby swear that the New Mexico voter list shall be used for governmental, election and election campaign purposes, and shall not be made available or used for commercial or unlawful purposes,, and shall not be made publicly available on the internet or through other means..

NEW YORK

POLITICAL

NORTH CAROLINA

UNRESTRICTED

NORTH DAKOTA

POLITICAL USE ONLY

OHIO

UNRESTRICTED

OKLAHOMA

UNRESTRICTED

OREGON

NON-COMMERCIAL

PENNSYLVANIA

POLITICAL

RHODE ISLAND

POLITICAL

SOUTH CAROLINA

NO COMMERCIAL SOLICITATION

SOUTH DAKOTA

POLITICAL

TENNESSEE

POLITICAL

TEXAS

UNRESTRICTED EXCEPT NO COMMERCIAL SOLICITATION

UTAH

UNRESTRICTED

VERMONT

NON-COMMERCIAL

VIRGINIA

Restrictions include but not limited to Article 2 Section 24 of the Commonwealth of Virginia Election Code: Voter lists shall only be made available for political purposes, and only to candidates and elected officials for their districts, and party committees and officers. The list may also be made available to courts for jury selection purposes. The Virginia Supreme Court has ruled that the list may also be provided to PACs for political purposes.

WASHINGTON

POLITICAL

WEST VIRGINIA

POLITICAL

WISCONSIN

UNRESTRICTED

WYOMING

POLITICAL

 

 

 




Do you charge an additional fee in order to receive Vote History information?

There is never a charge for including Vote History information in files created from selections made online using Voterlistsonline.com




How do I retrieve an Archived file?

On your "My Files" page place a check in the box at the top that says "show all" in the "archive" column. Your page will refresh and archived files will now be displayed. Remember to select the timeframe and number of files you want to view by selecting from options under "List Filter" on the lower left side of your screen.




I cannot seem to find a local level query such as a school board, township, etc. How do I get a count for local level offices?

Click on our Query Manager link and then select Jurisdiction from the displayed options. You will see a variety of Down Ballot/Lower Level Districts.

County
Precinct/Ward
City District (City Council or in some areas Ward)
County Commissioner/Supervisory District
School District
Municipality
Designated Marketing Area

Local Districts - available on some states under the Jurisdiction menu

Click on the option that best suits your needs.

Under Jurisdiction it is also possible to use Mail City/Zip and Resident City/Zip in order to help locate your voters although these are not political subdivisions but rather USPS designations.

If none of these give you the political geography you need then you can use our "Custom Search" option in order to search any of the fields available in our database for the state you are using. Whether fields are populated with data or not varies state by state.




How are voters marked as Dead?

Aristotle runs all voter files against a database of government agency-reported individuals who are believed to be deceased.

Those who match on at least FIRSTNAME, LASTNAME and BIRTHDATE are excluded from the output. Although it's possible for us to mark someone as dead when they actually are not, the great benefit of this feature is that you will not be calling or mailing hundreds or thousands of voters who are very likely to be no longer with us.




Why might there be a handful of addresses outside the state of my selection? (Even if movers have been excluded.)

Our source data (from Secretaries of State and/or county Boards of Election) could have a mailing address different than the registration address.

If this is provided by the source and not assigned by Aristotle during the address update enhancement process, the voter will not be designated as a "mover" on the voter file.

For example, many jurisdictions often list residence addresses outside of their own jurisdiction as well, not just mailing addresses. For instance, military and “federal only” registered voters can have foreign addresses, as well as many states just having residence address marked in another state.




What is the method used for Householding the selection?

Two voters at the same address with the same surname are in the same household. The first part of your selection works as usual: individual voter records qualify for selects based on their individual features.

Our Householding method relies on the fact that the statewide voter file has been processed for Householding already. During this process, each record is assigned a Household number unique within each county.

Members of a common Household are assigned the same Household number if they are determined to be in the same Household. NOTE: Generally, voters are considered to be in the same Household if they share the following in common: home ZIP, home street name, home pre-direction, home post direction, home house number, last name and home apartment number.

To get a count of Unique Households check the Unique Households count option on the right side toolbar on VLO 2.0. To Purchase a Householded File (one voter per household) select “Households” in Step Two of the Purchase process.




Can I order data using selections that aren't available at www.voterlistsonline.com?

Yes, in two ways. For smaller orders, the most economical way is to simply order more voters than you need, and make the selection on your end. For larger orders, we'll do the work for you. Just contact our sales staff at sales@aristotle.com to discuss whether you'd like to order a custom select.

 




What is the pricing for data purchased online at Voterlistsonline.com

VoterListsOnline.com™ is designed to allow users to run counts and selects from Voter Data, Consumer Data or State Contributor Data at the lowest costs possible.

Counts are free - to everyone, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Click here to view our pricing.
Pricing




What is the difference between Unique Address count and Unique Household count?

A Unique Address count returns a count of unique physical addresses matching your query regardless of the name of the individuals living at the addresses. A count of Unique Households returns a count where individuals sharing an address but not sharing a last name would be each be considered a Household. For Ex. a husband and wife living at the same address but not sharing the same last name would EACH be considered a Household.




State Contributor Data - What are the restrictions on its use?

Each State has different limitations on the use of its State Contributor Data. Click on this link to access the current restrictions. State Contributor Legal Useage




I don't see a file I want to use for Deduping under the Query Builder Dedupe Option - where is it?

All purchased files can be used for deduping. Two VLO features control what you see in your list. 1) You will see only files for your selected state listed as available for deduping. Be sure to select the state you want to work in first. 2) Files that are archived will not appear on the deduping list. Be sure to unarchive any file you want to use for deduping purposes.




How can I obtain the "Best Mail" for my mail program using the Query Builder "Mail/Email" option?

Start on the Query Builder Screen – 

  • At the top of the screen select  the “Unique Households” and/or the “Unique Addresses” count type.  You can get counts for both and decide which one to purchase when you checkout.
    • Unique Household gives you one record per Last name + USPS Address 
    • Unique Address gives you one record per USPS Address
  • On the Left Menu select Mail/Email option
  • Click on the Certified Addresses only option and place a check mark in the displayed box.
    • This limits your selection to addresses that have been standardized and have Zip +4 
  • Two other options are available to help you target your mail even further
    • In State Mail Addresses only - this option allows you to limit your selection to records where the mail address is within the same state as the Home Address. Check the box to select this option.
    • Address Type  of Zip Code 5+4  - You can select any of the listed options to limit your selection to just those types of addresses.
  • Each time you make a selection remember to either UPDATE QUERY or SNIP IT .