Campaign Tracker
Covered in this section:
Simplified Tracker (LWV only)
About Campaign Tracker
About Campaign Tracker Filters
About Email Status
Bulk Edit Candidates
Invite Candidates
Approve Candidates
Manually Moving Candidates to Responded Status
Resetting Candidates’ Status for Access or Following a Primary
Rejecting Candidates
About Simplified Tracker:
Campaign Tracker is where you will find status data; it is also where candidate communications is executed. The Simplified Tracker was created exclusively for the use of LWV. There is a difference between the Simplified Tracker and the standard Campaign Tracker. Please read, review, and use this help area first if you are affiliated with LWV. The biggest differences are these:
- Created, Invited and Responded are your only status categories.
- There is no need to approve candidates for their info to appear on the website.
- Once the race is published, the data will appear on VOTE411. Additionally, candidates have the ability to make revisions to their submissions.
Inviting Candidates Using Simplified Tracker:
Once you have created candidates, the next and last step in the candidate communication process is to invite them. To invite candidates individually, scroll to or set the filter to a candidate’s name, then click the blue arrow in the Created column. If you allow your mouse to hover over this button, you will see the word ‘Invite’. An invitation will appear. To preview the email, click Preview and then send an email to yourself. Modify if necessary, then click Send. You will return to the Campaign Tracker and you will see the candidate’s status has been changed to Invited.
To invite multiple candidates at once, check the box next to several names; to invite all candidates, make sure you are viewing ALL candidates by clicking strong>All in the upper right hand corner. Scroll to the bottom of the grid, check the Select All box and then click the arrow in the Created column (first column). An invitation will appear, with all invited candidates’ names. To preview the email, click Preview and then send an email to yourself. Modify if necessary, then click Send. You will return to the Campaign Tracker and you will see the candidates’ status has been changed to Invited.
At this point you have completed the Simplified Tracker process.
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About Campaign Tracker:
Campaign Tracker is where you will find status data; it is also where candidate communications is executed.
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Using Campaign Tracker Filters
Note: Filters are hidden until you click the word Filters to expand the section. Race filters permit sorting and selection of a specific candidate or group of candidates based on a single or multiple criteria. Once you have selected criteria, only candidates meeting that criteria will be displayed. Should you wish to search by a candidate’s name, enter the name in the field next to Search this page:. Once you have selected your filters, or completed the search field, click Filter .
Has Photo: If Yes is selected, candidates having a photo are shown; If No is selected, candidates nothaving a description are shown; If Off is selected, candidates with or without a description are shown. This is useful if you wish to search and upload pictures of candidates who have not responded.
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Status: This is self-explanatory. Select a filter and you are shown candidates within a single status category. Created shows all candidates. This would be helpful in seeing which candidates have not yet responded and need to be reminded.
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Email Status: If Unverified is selected, candidates whose emails have not been confirmed by the system (usually through an automated response, or opening the email) are shown. If Verified is selected, candidates whose emails have been confirmed by the system (usually through an automated response, or opening the email) are shown. If Bouncing is selected, candidates whose emails have bounced (been returned without opening) are shown. If Invalid is selected, candidates with empty email fields or improperly formatted email addresses are shown.
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Published: If Yes is selected, candidates in published races are shown; If No is selected, races in unpublished races are shown; If Off is selected, candidates in published and unpublished races are shown.
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Contested: If Yes is selected, candidates in races with more than one candidate are shown; If No is selected, candidates in races having no opponents are shown; If Off is selected, races with a single candidate or more are shown.
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Ballot Item Type If Race is selected, candidates in person-based races are shown; If Referendum is selected, candidates in issue-based races (Yes-For the Measure, or No- Against the Measure)are shown; If Off is selected, both races and referenda ballot items are shown.
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All Candidates Approved: If Yes is selected, candidates in races where all candidates in that race are approved will be shown; If No is selected, candidates in races having no opponents are shown; If Off is selected, all candidates, regardless of approval status, are shown.
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Primary: If Yes is selected, candidates in races designated as a Primary are shown; If No is selected, candidates in races designated in General Election are shown; If Off is selected, all candidates, regardless of election type, are shown.
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Search this page: This field is used when you wish to search for a candidate using a name.
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About Email Status
If you mouse over the “@” symbol in the tracker, it will reveal one of four email statuses: Bad, Invalid, Unverified or Verified. Here are the definitions for each:
Bad Email: The system has attempted, but not been able to digitally deliver your email. This typically occurs when a user’s mail system has rejected your email. We suggest contacting the candidate using your own email system, and ask them to add the email address you are using to their address book.
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Invalid: The system has not been able to deliver your email. This typically occurs when there is a typo in the email address or extension (i.e., .co instead of .com). Check the email address for accuracy.
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Unverified: The system has not been able to digitally verify delivery of your email. This does NOT mean your email has not been delivered; it simply means the system cannot digitally confirm delivery. This may occur when an email is accessed via a mobile or other device that is unable to digitally communicate with our system that the delivery has been completed.
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Verified: The system has successfully emailed and digitally confirmed delivery of your email.
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Bulk Edit Candidates
Bulk Editing is simply applying the same operation to multiple candidates at once. To see how bulk editing is done for a specific operation, see the information below. Bulk editing should not routinely be used for approving or rejecting candidates (see ‘Resetting Candidates’ for an exception. Click the boxes next to the races you would like to edit, or to select all, scroll to the bottom of the grid and check the select all box. Next, select the edit operation you wish to apply to all races. Scroll to the bottom of the grid and click the blue arrow in the appropriate column. Options include Invite, Remind, Responded, Approved, Unapprove, Reject, and Uninvite.
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Invite Candidates
Once you have created candidates, the next step in the candidate communication process is to invite them. To invite candidates individually,scroll to or set the filter to a candidate’s name, then click the blue arrow in the Created column. If you allow your mouse to hover over this button, you will see the word ‘Invite’. An invitation will appear. To preview the email click Preview and then send an email to yourself. Modify if necessary, then click Send. You will return to the Campaign Tracker and you will see the candidate’s status has been changed to Invited.
To invite multiple candidates at once, check the box next to several names; to invite all candidates, make sure you are viewing ALL candidates by clicking strong>All in the upper right hand corner. Scroll to the bottom of the grid, check the Select All box and then click the arrow in the Created column (first column). An invitation will appear, with all invited candidates’ names. To preview the email click Preview and then send an email to yourself. Modify if necessary, then click Send. You will return to the Campaign Tracker and you will see the candidates’ status has been changed to Invited.
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Approve Candidates
Once invited candidates have responded, the next step in the candidate communication process is to approve their responses. To approve candidates individually, scroll to or set the filter to the candidate’s name, then click the right-pointing blue arrow in the Responded(third) column. If you allow your mouse to hover over this button, you will see the words ‘Approve Selected’. The candidate’s profile will appear. Review the answers for completeness and acceptability, then scroll to the bottom and click Approve. Your approval email template will appear. To preview the email click Preview and then send an email to yourself. Modify if necessary, then click Send. You will return to the Campaign Tracker and you will see the candidate’s status has been changed to Approved.
Best Practice: We recommend that you approve candidates individually to avoid overlooking an omission or other error. You can review candidates’ answers as they come in by running a filter for candidates in Responded status.
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Manually Moving Candidates to Responded Status
Sometimes it will be desirable or necessary for you to manually change a candidate’s status to Responded. To do so, scroll to or set the filter to the candidate’s name, then click the right-pointing arrow in the Invitedcolumn. If you hover over the arrow, you will see the words ‘Edit/Move to Responded’. While data that has been completed will be shown, questions left unanswered will show the No Response Message chosen by you in the Appearance section.
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Resetting Candidates’ Status
A candidate may indicate that he wishes to edit a response, or that he accidentally submitted his answers and can no longer access his profile. To reset a candidate, search for his name using the filter; click on the box in the ‘Responded’ column. The candidate’s profile will appear; scroll to the bottom, click the Rejectbutton. A rejection email will appear; scroll to the bottom, and click Skip Email. This will reset the candidate toInvited status, and allow him access again.
Following a primary, you may decide to revise and/or add to your questions sets. Once you have modified your question set(s), you will need to reinvite candidates. To reinvite all candidates, follow these steps in this specific order: Make sure you are viewing ALL candidates by clicking strong>All in the upper right hand corner. Set your filter to include only Invited candidates. Scroll to the bottom of the grid, check the Select All box and then click the left-pointing arrow in the Invited column (first column). If you allow your mouse to hover over this button, you will see the words ‘Uninvite’. Next, reset the filter to include only Approved candidates. Scroll to the bottom of the grid, check the Select All box and then click the left-pointing arrow in the Approvedcolumn (last column). If you allow your mouse to hover over this button, you will see the words ‘Un-Approve’.Return to Index
Rejecting Candidates
You may have to reject a candidate’s responses for omitted answers or violation of editorial guidelines. Should this be necessary, scroll to, or set the filter to a candidate’s name, and click the left-pointing arrow in the Responded column. If you hover over this button you will see the words ‘Approve/Reject’. The candidate’s profile will appear. Scroll down to the bottom, then click the Reject button. The rejection email template will appear. You should change this text each time to reflect what is needed to make the responses acceptable. Be as clear as possible about these changes. Before sending, click Preview and then send an email to yourself. Modify if necessary, then click Send. You will return to the Campaign Tracker and you will see the candidates’ status remains as Invited.
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