Adding Activist Codes in VAN

VAN uses activist codes to categorize their contact records. For example, you could create Activist Codes like ClimateVoter or SignedPetition. If you create and use activist codes in VAN, there is a way to integrate them with Empower.

To Create an Activist Code

Ask your VAN administrator to set up the Activist Code priority buckets that you’ll want to come connect to in Empower.
Brainstorm how you want to prioritize and organize the universe of contacts you are reaching out to via your Call to Action outreach (e.g. by geographic location or by a voter turnout score).
In MyVoters, create the Activist Code that you will use to prioritize contacts in Empower.
Create a list in VAN of voters that should fall into each of your tiers of priority. Use the “Bulk Apply” feature to add the appropriate activist code to the list of voters. A full explanation of how to use this VAN feature can be found here.

Example Activist Code

Here is an example of how to create and prioritize an Activist Code. Let’s say we wanted to organize people based on their Absentee Ballot request status.

First, we would ask our VAN Administrator to create an Activist Code for “Requested ballot, not returned” and an Activist Code for “Returned Absentee ballot” and one final code titled “Needs to request Absentee Ballot”.
Next, we would tag the appropriate people to the correct Activist Code in VAN. Remember, we can do this quickly using the Bulk Apply feature.