Using Filters in the Group Builder

The Group Builder allows you to create targeted voter groups by applying various filters to your voter data. This guide explains each filter type and how to use them effectively.

Not Sure Where to Start? Use a Recommended Group

You don't have to build your first group from scratch. Every Vottiv account starts with two ready-made groups — All Voters (everyone in your district) and Republican Base (registered and modeled Republicans; named "Republican Voters" in older accounts) — created automatically once your district is set.

The Voter Groups page also shows a Recommended for your campaign section: proven starting audiences, each with the approximate number of matching voters in your district and a short explanation of what the group is for. Click Add on any card and it becomes a real group in your list, ready to use with canvassing, texting, mail, and every other outreach tool.

• Persuadable Swing Voters — voters with no firm party loyalty who reliably show up. Your persuasion audience for mail, doors, and ads.

• Turnout Targets: Low-Propensity Republicans — Republicans who were registered in time for the last general election but didn't cast a ballot. Your get-out-the-vote list.

• Reliable Primary Voters — voters who cast a ballot in at least one of the last two primaries. If you have a primary, these are the voters who decide it.

• Absentee & Early Voters — voters who vote by mail or vote early. Their Election Day comes weeks ahead — reach them before ballots drop.

• New Registrants — voters registered within the past 12 months. This group updates automatically as new registrations come in.

• Super Voters — voters who cast ballots in at least two of the last three general elections. Great for volunteer recruitment and persuasion that sticks.

A few things to know:

• Cards only appear for audiences that exist in your district — if your state's election data can't support one, or it matches zero voters, it stays hidden.

• Once you add a recommendation, its card disappears. If you archive that group later, the card comes back so you can re-add it.

• You can collapse the section with Hide and bring it back with Show recommendations.

• Open a recommended group's Filters page to see exactly how it targets voters, shown as a visual flow from your district down to the final audience.

How Filters Work

When you add a filter using the Basic Group Builder, you're narrowing down your audience to only include voters who match your criteria. Multiple filters work together using AND logic (progressively narrowing the group) - voters must match ALL applied filters to be included in your group.

Each filter shows a live count of how many voters match your current selection, helping you understand the size of your target audience as you build.

When you're done, click the Create Voter Group button at the bottom and give the new group a name

If you need other logical operators like OR, toggle on the Advanced Group Builder in the top right corner.

Demographic Filters

Gender

Filter voters by their gender.

How to use: Click on the bars in the chart to select one or more gender categories. Selected bars turn teal.

Example options you might see:

• Male

• Female

• Unknown

Political Party

Filter voters by their registered political party affiliation.

How to use: Click on the bars to select party affiliations. You can select multiple parties.

Example options you might see:

• Republican

• Democrat

• Libertarian

• Green

• Independent

• No Party Preference

• Other

Age

Filter voters by age range using an interactive histogram.

How to use: Click on age range buckets to select them. Each bucket represents a 5-year range (e.g., 18-22, 23-27, etc.). You can select multiple ranges.

Tips:

• Hover over bars to see exact counts

• The display starts at age 18 (voting age)

• Ranges extend up to 105+

  

Birth Date

Filter voters by their birth month or exact birthday.

How to use:

• Select one or more months to find voters with birthdays during that time

• Optionally filter by a specific day or date range (if available)

Example use cases:

• Send birthday outreach messages

• Identify voters turning 18 soon

• Create more precise age-based segments beyond standard age ranges

Income

Filter voters by estimated income bracket.

How to use: Click on income bracket bars to select. Based on modeled data.

Example options you might see:

• Under $25,000

• $25,000 - $50,000

• $50,000 - $75,000

• $75,000 - $100,000

• $100,000 - $150,000

• $150,000+

• Unknown

Education

Filter voters by educational attainment level.

How to use: Click on education level bars to select.

Example options you might see:

• Less than High School

• High School Graduate

• Some College

• Bachelor's Degree

• Graduate Degree

• Unknown

Ethnic Group

Filter voters by broad ethnic group classification.

How to use: Click on ethnic group bars to select one or more groups.

Example options you might see:

• Asian

• Black

• Hispanic

• Other

• White

Ethnicity

Filter voters by more specific ethnic background.

How to use: Click on ethnicity bars to select. This provides more granular options than Ethnic Group.

Example options you might see:

• Hmong

• Vietnamese

• Indian

• Hispanic

• Hungarian

Religion

Filter voters by likely religious affiliation. This is modeled data, meaning we use a best guess based on ethnicity, location, and census data.

How to use: Click on religion bars to select.

Example options you might see:

• Catholic

• Buddhist

• Mormon

• Muslim

• Protestant

• Unknown

Behavioral Filters

Voting History

Filter voters based on which elections they participated in. We do not have data on WHO they voted for, only if they voted or not.

How to use:

1. Select elections from the list (most recent appear first)

2. Choose a matching criteria:

   • All Selected - Match voters who voted in ALL selected elections

   • At least X - Match voters who voted in at least X of the selected elections

   • Exactly X - Match voters who voted in exactly X of the selected elections

   • None - Match voters who did NOT vote in any of the selected elections

Example: Select the last 4 general elections and choose "At least 3" to find consistent voters who may have missed one election. You can use this as a voting propensity filter. In this case, 3/4 would be a 75% voting propensity in the elections you selected.

Precincts

Filter voters by their assigned voting precinct.

How to use:

1. Search for precincts by name or precinct number

2. Click to select one or more precincts

3. Choose matching criteria (All/At least/Exactly/None). To find voters in multiple precincts, change the condition to "At Least 1" instead of "All Selected"

Note: When a precinct's official name doesn't include its number, search results show the number in parentheses after the name — for example, COSTA MESA (52828). You can search by either the name or the number.

Map preview: When you select one or more precincts, the panel now shows their approximate boundaries on a map so you can see roughly where each precinct is. These boundaries are estimates generated from the addresses of voters in that precinct, meant for orientation only — they do not change which voters are included in your group. Voter membership in a precinct always comes from each voter's official precinct assignment in the voter file, not from the map. Some precincts may not have enough address data to draw a boundary yet; the precinct filter still works normally for those, it simply won't show a shape on the map.

Tags

Filter voters based on tags your account has assigned to them.

How to use:

1. Select from tags your team has created

2. Choose matching criteria:

   • All Selected - Voters must have ALL selected tags

   • At least X - Voters must have at least X of the selected tags

   • Exactly X - Voters must have exactly X of the selected tags

   • None - Voters must NOT have any of the selected tags

Registration Filters

Voter Registration Date

Filter voters by when they registered to vote.

How to use: Choose from preset options OR set a custom date range.

Preset options:

• Within the last month

• Within the past 3 months

• Within the past 6 months

• Within the past 12 months

• Within the past 2 years

• Within the past 3 years

• Within the past 4 years

• Within the past 5 years

• More than 1 year ago

• More than 2 years ago

• More than 3 years ago

• More than 4 years ago

• More than 5 years ago

• More than 10 years ago

Custom date range: Click "Select Custom Date Range" to pick specific start and end dates using the calendar.

Registration Method (California only)

Filter voters by how they registered to vote.

Options:

• DMV - Registered through the Department of Motor Vehicles

• Mail - Registered via mail-in registration

• NCOA - Registered through National Change of Address update

• Online - Registered online

• Registrar - Registered directly with county registrar

• Other - Other registration methods

Permanent Absentee (California only)

Filter by permanent vote-by-mail status.

Options:

• Is registered as permanent absentee

• Is not registered as permanent absentee

Housing & Location Filters

Multifamily Housing

Filter voters by whether they live in a multi-unit building.

Options:

• Lives in multifamily housing - Voters with a unit number (apartments, condos, etc.)

• Does not live in multifamily housing - Voters without a unit number (single-family homes)

Custom Areas

Filter voters by custom geographic areas you've drawn. If you want to target by city, county, zip code, or legislative area, use the Locations filter instead.

How to use:

1. Click "Create a new area" to draw a custom boundary on the map

2. Or select from previously created areas

3. Selected areas highlight on the map

Tips:

• Draw areas to target specific neighborhoods, developments, or regions

• Edit or delete existing areas using the pencil/trash icons

• Areas persist across sessions for reuse

Locations

Filter voters by pre-defined geographic locations within your district.

How to use:

1. Browse or search for locations

2. Locations are organized by type (cities, counties, districts, etc.)

3. Click to select one or more locations

4. View selected areas on the map

How locations match voters — and why two locations that look like they cover the “same” place can return very different counts:

Vottiv locations come from several different data sources, and each one matches voters in one of three ways. In most cases the boundary you see on the map is exactly what filters voters — but for some location types the map boundary is shown for reference only, and voters are actually matched by a value on their voter registration. This is the most common reason two locations covering roughly the same area return different counts.

• Matched by geographic boundary — for example county subdivisions, zip codes, and Custom Areas you draw. A voter is included when their home’s mapped location falls inside the boundary, so the count reflects everyone physically located within the shape.

• Matched by a value on the voter registration — for example cities, counties, and legislative or school districts. A voter is included when the matching value on their registration (such as their registration city) equals that location, regardless of where their home plots on the map. A boundary may still be drawn for reference, but it is not what filters voters. Because registration values often differ from census or geographic boundaries, these counts can be higher or lower than the mapped area.

• Other Custom Districts — special and local districts (such as city council seats and special districts) that the RNC or state party provides to us as a list of the voters in each district. There is no map boundary for these. To see roughly where these voters live, open the minimap and zoom in to view a heatmap of their households.

Example: why a city can show far fewer voters than a school district or county subdivision that overlaps it. The “City of Thousand Oaks” location matches voters whose registration city is literally “Thousand Oaks.” Many residents who live inside the city’s census-drawn boundary have their registration city listed as a nearby community name (for example Newbury Park or Westlake Village), so they are not counted under the city even though they live within its geographic footprint. A school district or county subdivision covering the same area is matched by a different definition — a district value, or the actual geographic boundary — so it can include tens of thousands more voters. This is not a data error: the census-designated boundary for a place is often different from the community or postal name that appears on a voter’s registration, and different location types use different definitions.

Tip: If a location’s count looks surprising, check the note shown above the map preview. Vottiv flags when a location is matched by a voter-registration value (labeled “Boundary shown for reference only”) and when no map boundary is available to display.

Household Composition Filters

Household Party Composition (California only)

Filter voters based on the political party makeup of their family household.

Example options:

• PURE REP - All household members are Republican

• PURE DEM - All household members are Democrat

• REP/DEM - Mixed Republican and Democrat household

• PURE NPP - All household members have No Party Preference

• MIXED HH - Mixed household with various affiliations

How to use: Select compositions and choose matching criteria (All/At least/Exactly/None).

Address Party Composition

Filter voters by the party composition at their physical address.

Similar options to Household Party Composition, but based on all voters at the same address (may include non-family members).

Example options:

• PURE REP - All physical address members are Republican

• PURE DEM - All physical address members are Democrat

• REP/DEM - Mixed Republican and Democrat physical address

• PURE NPP - All physical address members have No Party Preference

• MIXED HH - Mixed physical address with various affiliations

Mail Party Composition

Filter voters by the party composition at their mailing address.

Useful when mailing addresses differ from residential addresses.

Example options:

• PURE REP - All mailing address members are Republican

• PURE DEM - All mailing address members are Democrat

• REP/DEM - Mixed Republican and Democrat mailing address

• PURE NPP - All mailing address members have No Party Preference

• MIXED HH - Mixed mailing address with various affiliations

Party Composition Filter Acronyms

REP - Republican

DEM - Democrat

MPC - Minor Party Conservative - (Conservative, Right to Life, Libertarian, Reform)

MPL - Minor Party Liberal - (Liberal, Peace and Freedom, Socialist, Green, Natural Law)

NPP - No Party Preference - (Independent, American Independence, Unaffiliated, US Taxpayers, Other, State Specific Party, None)

Ballot Language (California only)

Filter voters by their preferred ballot language.

Options:

• Chinese

• English

• Spanish

• Tagalog

• Hindi

• Japanese

• Korean

• Khmer

• Thai

• Vietnamese

• Other

Contact & Outreach Filters

Contact Methods

Filter voters based on available contact information.

Options:

• Has Cell Phone - Voters with a cell phone number on file

• Has Landline Phone - Voters with a landline number on file

• Has Email Address - Voters with an email address on file

• Has Organization-Entered Cell Phone - Voters with a cell phone number added or updated by your organization

• Has Organization-Entered Landline Phone - Voters with a landline number added or updated by your organization

• Has Organization-Entered Phone - Voters with any phone number added by your organization

• Has Organization-Entered Email Address - Voters with an email address added or updated by your organization

Important clarification: While you can filter for and export voters who have email addresses on file, Vottiv does not offer email services. The Vottiv system does not provide the ability to send emails to voters. Email addresses can be downloaded for use with a separate email service provider.

Support Status

Filter voters by their recorded support status for your campaign as collected by the Community Support purpose while the canvassing.

Options:

• Support - Voters marked as supporters

• Undecided - Voters marked as undecided

• Oppose - Voters marked as opposed

Organization Opt-Out Status

Filter voters based on whether they have opted out of communications from your organization. This lets you build outreach groups that automatically exclude people who have asked not to be contacted.

Options:

• Has not opted out (any reason) - Excludes everyone who has opted out, been marked deceased, or moved. Use this option when you want a clean outreach list.

• Has opted out (any reason) - Only includes voters who have opted out for any reason.

• Opted out — Unsubscribed - Voters who opted out of your communications (for example, by replying STOP to a text or asking to be removed).

• Opted out — Deceased - Voters marked as deceased.

• Opted out — Moved - Voters marked as having moved.

Tip: Add the Has not opted out (any reason) option to any outreach group to avoid contacting people who have unsubscribed. Unsubscribes are specific to your organization — someone who opted out of a different organization is not affected.

Surveys

Filter voters based on their responses to your campaign surveys.

How to use:

1. Survey options appear as: Survey Name - Question - Answer

2. Select specific survey responses to target

3. Use matching criteria for multiple selections

Example: Select "Volunteer Survey - Would you volunteer? - Yes" to find potential volunteers.

Canvassing Results

Filter voters based on previous canvassing interaction outcomes. This is useful when retargeting

Statuses available for each canvass:

• Canvassed - Successfully spoke with the voter

• Not Home - No one answered

• Declined - Voter declined to participate

• Unsafe/Inaccessible - Location was unsafe or inaccessible

• Moved - Voter no longer lives at address

• Non-English - Language barrier encountered

• Gated - Unable to access due to gate/security

How to use: Options appear as Canvass Name - Status. Active canvasses appear first, archived canvasses appear below a separator.

SMS Sends

Filter voters who received specific SMS messages.

How to use: Select from your sent SMS campaigns. Options show a preview of the message content.

Excluding people you already texted: Use the "None" matching criteria (or a NOT condition in the Advanced Group Builder) to build a follow-up audience that excludes recipients of earlier text blasts.

Shared phone numbers are covered automatically: When household members share a cell phone, a text blast only sends one message to that number, and it is recorded against one of the voters. When you later send to a group that excludes recipients of that earlier blast, Vottiv also skips any phone number that already received a message from the excluded sends — even if the number is listed on a different voter's record. This prevents a household from getting the same message twice just because two people share a phone. Because this extra protection is applied when the new send is prepared, the live voter count in the Group Builder may be slightly higher than the final number of texts actually queued; the prepared send always shows the true recipient count.

Phone Calls

Filter voters based on phone banking call outcomes.

Statuses available for each call set:

• Answered - Call was answered

• No Answer - No answer

• Voicemail - Left voicemail

• Failed - Call failed to connect

• Dropped - Call was dropped

Groups

Filter voters based on membership in other groups you've created.

How to use: Select existing groups to include voters who match those group criteria. Useful for building on previous targeting work.

Predictive Model Filters

Vendor Models

Third-party modeling vendors provide predictive scores and classifications for voters.

How to use:

1. Select a vendor from the filter list

2. Browse their available model projects

3. Select a specific model to filter by

Model types:

• Score-based models - Filter by numeric score ranges (e.g., 0-100 turnout likelihood)

• Categorical models - Filter by category classifications (e.g., "Likely Supporter", "Unlikely Voter")

Combining Filters

AND Logic (Default)

When you add multiple filters, they combine with AND logic. A voter must match ALL filters to be included.

Example:

• Age: 25-34 AND

• Party: Democrat AND

• Has Cell Phone

This finds Democratic voters aged 25-34 who have a cell phone on file.

Using Selection Criteria

For mapped filters (Voting History, Tags, Precincts, etc.), the selection criteria let you fine-tune matching:

Tips for Effective Targeting

1. Start broad, then narrow - Begin with one or two filters and add more to refine your audience

2. Watch your counts - The live voter count helps you avoid over-filtering to an audience too small to be useful

3. Use "None" strategically - Exclude voters you've already contacted or who declined outreach

4. Combine behavioral and demographic filters - Demographics tell you who voters are; behavioral filters tell you what they've done

5. Save groups for reuse - Once you've built a good target audience, save it as a group to use in outreach campaigns

6. Consider contact methods - If you're planning SMS outreach, make sure to include "Has Cell Phone" filter. For email outreach, note that while you can filter for "Has Email Address", Vottiv does not support sending emails.

State-Specific Filters

Some filters are only available in certain states based on the voter data available:

California-specific filters:

• Ballot Language

• Household Party Composition

• Registration Method

• Permanent Absentee

Need Help?

If you're unsure which filters to use for your campaign goals, consider these common use cases:

• GOTV (Get Out The Vote): Filter by voting history to find sporadic voters who need encouragement

• Persuasion: Filter by party (independents/undecided) and support status (undecided)

• Volunteer Recruitment: Filter by support status (supporters) and previous survey responses

• New Voter Outreach: Filter by registration date (within past year) combined with age (18-25)