NationBuilder provides political nations in most U.S. states free access to national voter records through the NationBuilder Election Center. To request a free voter file, go to People > More > Import > Voter file import and click the button "Import from Election Center."
On the other hand, some campaigns may want to import their local voter files or international voter information. Some things to remember before beginning a voter file import: often, Excel and similar programs will want to automatically re-format your data, so here are some tips for normalizing your CSV files for clean imports. You will also need to import voter history separately using the instructions here: http://nationbuilder.com/how_do_i_import_custom_voter_history. If your nation is not using the political edition, contact your point person to request the voter add-on before continuing.
Because of the dizzying array of voter data formats around the world, you can import voter files with a large number of fields from People > More > Import > Voter file import. While most of the fields available in a one time import are also available in a voter file import, the available addresses fields are different.
We recommend not using fields as proxies for other data - doing so makes it difficult to manage your nation and for others to query data relevant for their workflow. Consider using notes and adding tags to the import if you have data that doesn't meet one of our primary fields. Multiple tags can be added to a person's profile by separating them with commas in your import file. If you have questions, drop us a line at help@nationbuilder.com. You can also suggest new features related to imports.
CSV imports are limited to 20mb per file - if your list is larger than that, you will need to divide it into multiple files. In this case, you will want to to reuse your field mappings.
Voter file import fields:
Items in italics are unique identifers for NationBuilder. Unique identfiers can only be assigned to one signup record. An email address is a unique identifier and doesn't require a first or last name to be defined with the import. The other unique identifiers must have a first name and last name mapped during the import in order for the signup record to be imported into the nation.
| Field Name | Valid inputs and additional info |
| NBEC_guid | Internal ID used by NationBuilder Election Center |
| pf_strat_id | Internal ID used by NationBuilder Election Center |
| state_file_id | State ID - May be zero filled to number of digits defined by state |
| county_file_id | County ID - May be non-zero filled state ID in some states |
| dw_id | Only used on exports - the ID for the person exported from Catalysts |
| van_id | Only used on exports - the ID for the person exported from VAN |
| ngp_id | Only used on exports - the ID for the person exported from NGP |
| pf_matchkey | Internal information used by NationBuilder Election Center |
| household_id | NationBuilder ID for first record in household |
| must contain valid email address (can be repeated up to four times per profile) | |
| email_opt_in | Y/N |
| prefix | |
| first_name | |
| middle_name | |
| last_name | |
| suffix | |
| name | the full name of someone, leave blank if you provide first/last/middle name separately. |
| legal_name | i.e. William instead of Bill |
| employer | |
| occupation | |
| sex | M/F/O |
| party | 1 character Party abbreivation - full list of political parties |
| religion | |
| church | |
| ethnicity | |
| marital_status | C/D/M/P/S/W -(civil union, divorced, married, domestic partner, single, widowed) |
| is_deceased | Y/N |
| dob | Birthdate - must be in the form MM/DD/YYYY |
| phone_number | include area code |
| work_phone_number | include area code |
| mobile_number | include area code |
| mobile_opt_in | Willing to receive text messages from nation - Y/N |
| is_mobile_bad | Indicates mobile number is bad and will not accept text messages - Y/N |
| federal_donotcall | On US Federal Do Not Call list - Y/N |
| do_not_call | Does not want to be called by nation - Y/N |
| do_not_contact | Does not want to be contacted by nation - Y/N |
| fax_number | include area code |
| website | Must be valid URL |
| language | Primary spoken language - Two character abreviation |
| created_at | Date joined or imported to nation - must be in the form MM/DD/YYYY |
| support_level | 1 =very strong support and 5 = very strong oppose |
| inferred_support_level | 1(very strong inferred support) to 5 (very weak inferred support) |
| priority_level | value of 1 through 5, with 1 being low priorty and 5 being high priority |
| background | Background field which shows at top of the person's profile |
| availability | |
| household_size | Must be numerical |
| demo | demographic codes (U.S. codes here) |
| tag_list | Tags separated by commas which will be added to person's profile. See Overwrite non-blank fields FAQ entry for more information. |
| assistant_id | NationBuilder ID for assistant |
| assistant_name_or_email | Must be valid member of nation |
| recruiter_id | NationBuilder ID of the recruiter for this person |
| recruiter_name_or_email | Recruiter's name or email address - Must be valid member of nation |
| parent_id | NationBuilder ID for point person for this profile |
| point_person_name_or_email | Point person's name or email address - Must be valid member of nation |
| nationbuilder_id | NationBuilder ID for this person - Must be blank for imports. Must be numerical for updates |
| facebook_uid | |
| twitter_login | |
| twitter_id | |
| meetup_id | |
| civicrm_id | External ID from CiviCRM system |
| external_id | External ID - defined by nation owner |
| county_district | |
| city_district | |
| village_district | |
| judicial_district | |
| school_district | |
| school_sub_district | |
| fire_district | |
| precinct_name | Name of voter's district. Can be searched as either precinct name or precinct code, not both |
| precinct_code | Numerical code for voter's precinct. Can be searched as either precinct name or precinct code, not both |
| media_market_name | |
| support_probability_score | |
| turnout_probability_score | |
| registered_at | Date of last registration must be in the form MM/DD/YYYY |
| previous_party | 1 character Party abbreivation - full list of political parties |
| inferred_party | 1 character Party abbreivation - full list of political parties |
| registered_country_code | Address per voter registration form |
| registered_country | Address per voter registration form |
| registered_state | Address per voter registration form |
| registered_city | Address per voter registration form |
| registered_county | Address per voter registration form |
| registered_zip | Address per voter registration form |
| registered_address1 | Address per voter registration form |
| registered_address2 | Address per voter registration form |
| registered_address3 | Address per voter registration form |
| registered_fips | Address per voter registration form |
| registered_street_number | Address per voter registration form |
| registered_street_prefix | Address per voter registration form |
| registered_street_name | Address per voter registration form |
| registered_street_type | Address per voter registration form |
| registered_street_suffix | Address per voter registration form |
| registered_unit_number | Address per voter registration form |
| registered_zip5 | Address per voter registration form |
| registered_zip4 | Address per voter registration form |
| registered_sort_sequence | Address per voter registration form |
| registered_delivery_point | Address per voter registration form |
| registered_lot | Address per voter registration form |
| registered_carrier_route | Address per voter registration form |
| mailing_country_code | Mailing address for person |
| mailing_country | Mailing address for person |
| mailing_state | Mailing address for person |
| mailing_city | Mailing address for person |
| mailing_county | Mailing address for person |
| mailing_zip | Mailing address for person |
| mailing_address1 | Mailing address for person |
| mailing_address2 | Mailing address for person |
| mailing_address3 | Mailing address for person |
| mailing_fips | Mailing address for person |
| mailing_street_number | Mailing address for person |
| mailing_street_prefix | Mailing address for person |
| mailing_street_name | Mailing address for person |
| mailing_street_type | Mailing address for person |
| mailing_street_suffix | Mailing address for person |
| mailing_unit_number | Mailing address for person |
| mailing_zip5 | Mailing address for person |
| mailing_zip4 | Mailing address for person |
| mailing_sort_sequence | Mailing address for person |
| mailing_delivery_point | Mailing address for person |
| mailing_lot | Mailing address for person |
| mailing_carrier_route | Mailing address for person |
| Non- auto Districting or Non-US** |
|
| federal_district | Three digit number |
| state_upper_district | Three digit number |
| state_lower_district | Three digit number |
| VOLUNTEER ADDON | |
| is_volunteer | Y/N |
| DONOR ADDON | |
| is_fundraiser | Y/N |
| is_ignore_donation _limits | Y/N |
| donations_to_raise_amount | |
| *doing_business_with_nyc_agency | |
| *doing_business_ with_nyc_business_category | |
| MEMBERS ADDON | |
| membership_level_name | Must exist in nation |
| membership_started_at | must be in the form MM/DD/YYYY |
| membership_expires_at | must be in the form MM/DD/YYYY |
(*indicates has bank account with the NYC option checked)
**To turn autodistricting off for your nation, go to Settings > Political > Settings and uncheck the second box from the bottom on the page. If the box doesn't show, it is already off.
