Election Impact Reports: Understanding Your Turnout Difference

What an Election Impact Report shows

After an election, Vottiv builds an Election Impact Report for recent elections in your state. It compares turnout among voters your account contacted with turnout among voters it did not contact.

A voter counts as contacted when your account knocked their door, sent them a text, called them (including leaving a voicemail), mailed them, or emailed them.

The report shows:

• Turnout Difference: the observed turnout gap, followed by a comparison of similar voters.
• By outreach channel: turnout comparisons and contact counts for each channel you used.
• Who you contacted: contact counts by channel and the number of distinct contacted voters.
• Where your contacted voters live: a map of your contact footprint.

Finding your reports

Open Election Reports on Account Home. Click an election to open its report. Click View all to see more elections.

The list starts with your organization's first voter contact. Elections before that contact are hidden. If your organization has no contacts, the list stays empty until outreach starts.

Each election has a status:

• Ready: the report is available.
• Finalizing: turnout data can still change as the voter file updates.
• Awaiting data: Vottiv is waiting for enough turnout data.
• Not enough data: there is not enough comparable data for an impact estimate.

Filter a report by location

The Report for bar under the report title shows which location the report covers. A new report covers All contacted counties.

To see a report for one location:

1. Click Change location.
2. Type a name in the search box, or browse the location types. Search opens every type that has a match. Locations include cities, counties, legislative districts, school districts, school board trustee areas, city council districts, party-supplied districts, and your saved areas. Saved areas with no location type are under Other.
3. Click one location. The map zooms to it.
4. Click Show report for followed by the location name. Click Cancel to keep your current report.

The list shows the same locations as the Locations filter in the group builder: locations that overlap your account's district, plus your saved areas. A statewide account sees locations across the whole state. Precincts are not in this list.

Each location has its own report. The turnout comparison, contact counts, and contact map use that location and only voters your account can access. Selecting a location does not change your account's voter access or settings.

The report uses the same location filter as your voter file. Where the location uses registered district or city values, Vottiv includes voters who match those values, even if they have no map coordinates. A party-supplied district uses its voter list. Other locations use their verified map boundary. The boundary on the map is for reference. Voters are matched by their registration. A location needs a usable voter filter or verified boundary to appear in the list. For this reason, a location type can list a few fewer locations than its count shows. Available locations depend on your account's district and data.

For a school board report, search for the school district or trustee area by name and select it. Repeat for each trustee area you want to examine. Click Export PDF to download a report for the selected area.

To return to the original report, click Show all contacted counties in the Report for bar.

Turnout is observed ballots divided by active voters in the current voter file that your account can access within the selected location. It is not certified election-day turnout. An empty voter count shows a dash for turnout. A location can show turnout and contact counts even when it has too little data for an impact estimate. The contact map shows voters with coordinates, so it can show fewer voters than the report totals.

Reports no longer include a city turnout table or a city CSV export. To see one city, select that city through Change location.

Reports build when you open them

Opening a report that has not been built starts the calculation. You will see Building your report while it runs. Larger locations can take a few minutes. The page updates automatically.

Use Recompute now to rebuild the selected report with the latest data. Vottiv also refreshes reports automatically. Each location has its own report, so changing location starts or loads that location's calculation.

Reading the Turnout Difference

The first figure is the observed turnout difference. It compares turnout among contacted and uncontacted voters without adjusting for differences between those groups. Two bars show their turnout rates. Turnout counts voting by any method: early, by mail, or on Election Day.

The like-for-like difference compares contacted voters with uncontacted voters who are similar in area, age group, party, and voting history. This helps account for whom your campaign chose to reach.

Estimates have a range. A narrow range indicates greater precision; a wide range indicates more uncertainty. Statistically significant means the estimated difference is unlikely to be due to chance under the analysis model. Campaigns choose whom to contact, so a difference does not prove that outreach caused it.

Open How solid are these numbers? for the comparison method, data coverage, and limitations. If there is not enough comparable data, the report shows contact information and available turnout without an impact estimate.

By outreach channel

Each channel shows its turnout difference, range, and contacted-voter count. The channels share one scale and are ranked by observed turnout difference.

A voter can receive more than one type of contact. Channel counts and comparisons overlap, so they do not add up to the overall result.

Exporting a report as a PDF

Click Export PDF in the report header. The PDF includes your account name, election, selected location, computation time, turnout comparison, contact counts, map, and method notes. The export uses the report shown on screen.

Understanding turnout updates

Turnout data arrives as counties report and the voter file updates. During the reporting window, the header shows Finalizing and the observed turnout percentage. That percentage is the share of active voters recorded as having voted, not the share of expected ballots counted.

After that window, the header shows Updated turnout and an update date. This describes the voter-file data; it does not certify election results.

What the report can tell you

Election Reports measure whether someone voted. They do not reveal whom anyone voted for. Ballot choices are secret.