Prior to adding your voter list, your voter information must be properly formatted. Proper formatting allows Notices to arrive without issue. A spreadsheet is a great place to start when formatting and organizing your voter information for ElectionBuddy.
Hidden Characters Can Cause Errors
Remove all non-printable characters, which are hidden characters. Non-printable characters are commonly applied in word-processing programs, often without your knowledge, and are used for formatting.
Excel has a specific function to remove non-printable characters: the =CLEAN() function. For more on how to use this function, please see Microsoft's help article on the CLEAN function.
Alternatively, to remove non-printable characters, you can try copying from your spreadsheet and pasting into Windows Notepad, and then copying from Windows Notepad and pasting into ElectionBuddy.
Email Address Formatting Tips
A few things to note regarding the proper formatting of your voters' email addresses:
Only one email per cell. If you have a situation where your voter has multiple email addresses, pick the best one.
Email addresses must include only one "@" and at least one "." after the "@"
Phone Number Formatting Tips
When you select "SMS Notices", you pick the country where the majority of the text messages are being sent (default country).
Below are some tips:
One phone number per cell.
Avoid extensions and spaces or extra characters. Text messages cannot go to extensions
The phone number needs to be linked to a mobile/cell phone as this number will be receiving text messages.
Format the phone numbers in the same format that you would use in your own country. For example, in the United States and Canada, use a 10 digit phone number.
For every number outside of your default country, use the full E.164 number. Ex. start your phone number with a "+", the country code, and the phone number. E.164 numbers are a maximum of 15 digits. For help with country codes, please see this list.
Mailing Address Formatting Tips
A few things to note:
"Name" is required and can be up to 50 characters.
"Address Line 1" is required and can be up to 200 characters.
"Address Line 2" is optional and can be up to 200 characters.
"City" is required and can be up to 200 characters.
"State" is required and must be a two-letter state short-name code for the states in the United States; otherwise, it can be up to 200 characters.
"Postal code" is required and must follow the ZIP formation of 12345 or Zip+4 format of 12345-1234 if in the United States; otherwise, the total postal code can be up to 40 characters.
"Country" is required and must be a two-letter short-name code. For example: "US" for the United States"CA" for Canada"GB" for the United Kingdom"AU" for Australia"NZ" for New Zealand" RU" for Russia"DE" for Germany. For more country codes, please visit this website.
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