Voter History File
We maintain voter history for every currently active voter in the State of Florida going back about seven (7) years. We have found that data beyond that is of little value in a political campaign.
To lend additional weight to limiting the data to about seven years, we would point out that many Florida counties in the mid-to-late 1990's maintained inaccurate data. One county we know, for instance, would record the date of the election as the first day of the month rather than when it actually occurred, for example, on the second Tuesday of the month. This wreaked havoc when choosing dates for voter quality.
Needless to say, almost all of the bad record keeping is gone, and the Supervisor's of Elections throughout Florida currently do a very thorough job.
If you are a candidate, please note that these files are primarily for programmers. If you are using a programmer for your campaign, this will allow him or her to examine an unusually large number of voter history dates that may be of interest to the campaign.
Candidates should, instead, review the white paper on Who Votes.
Voter History File Format
The voter history file is generated in a linear format sorted by the voter's state_id number and the elections in which he or she voted. Take a look at a sample of 100 voters.
History File Data Transfer Formats
Available data formats:
- Microsoft® Excel®
- Comma or Tab Delimited Text
- DBF
I regularly produce the voter file in either Excel® or tab-delimited text. Please remember that Excel® has a 64,000 record limitation, therefore many larger districts will not work in Excel®.
Optional data format conversions for a small service fee:
- Microsoft® Access®
- Microsoft® SQL Server® (as backup file or "detached database")
Some Voting Dates May Be Missing
Until an election is officially "closed," we are unable to obtain voter history for that date. Closing an election can sometimes be a lengthy process as a result of a protest. We have seen election reporting postponed for two years waiting for completion of legal wrangling over some complaint relative to "residency" or alleged "voter fraud." The only real solution is to pick another date. In lieu of that, we need to check if, perhaps, the election date is available from the county, even though they are not reporting it to the State of Florida for legal reasons. This rarely works, but may be worth a try.
Give us a call if you have specific voting requirements that need additional data. We can help you with the working necessary to get exactly what you need from your County Department of Elections.