You can assign a meaningful ballot identifier (i.e. a Ballot ID) to make it easier to manage voter lists and identify voters.
Without a ballot identifier, voters are listed by their contact information like email, cell phone number, or address; ElectionBuddy uses the contact information of your voter as that voter's unique identifier. However, with Ballot IDs turned on, the Ballot ID becomes the unique identifier associated with the voter, not the contact information.
Since Ballot IDs replace the contact information as the unique identifier, you can use duplicate voter contact information in your voter list. If you use multiple notification methods, ballot identifiers are mandatory and enabled immediately. Ballot IDs are not equivalent to Voter Labels, as voter labels do not need to be unique.
The following are examples of Ballot IDs:
Membership Identification Number
Unit Number
House Number
Apartment Number
Account Number
Student Number
Or any unique numbers such as below:
Setting Up Ballot IDs
As mentioned, if you use multiple notification methods, Ballot IDs are mandatory. Therefore, they will become automatically enabled, and they do not need to be turned on.
At the "Voters" stage of your vote setup, choose "Ballot IDs".
Add unique identifiers for each voter in your voter list. Examples might be your membership ID or student ID. It must be unique and should be something that the voter will recognize.
You can also import a list with Ballot IDs for each voter already included, in the same way as importing a regular voter list with just emails.
When Would I Need Ballot IDs?
A common scenario when Ballot IDs are necessary is when one or more members of an organization share one email address, but each is entitled to cast a vote. This is common when multiple individuals from one family are members. Because one email address will receive two or more emails, we also recommend adding Voter Labels to your voter list to ensure voters are clear on which person each email is being sent to.
We also know organizations often have two or more email addresses on file for one voter. This is common for homeowners or condominium associations because homes/units may have two or more owners, even though only one vote can be cast for a home/unit. If you want to send notices to multiple email addresses, we suggest using a similar Ballot ID for the household (e.g., 123-1 and 123-2) and then spoiling the extra ballot.
Household, shared email