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Navigating Create Voter Universes
Navigating the Tabs
Advanced Universe Query Builder
View People in Pending Universe
View Crosstabs for Pending Universe
View Tableau Visualization for Pending Universes
Editing Criteria Groups and Previously Saved Universes
Nesting Previously Saved Universes in New Saved Universes
Introduction
The purpose of the Create Voter Universes page is to define a query that will then be used to aggregate a group of voters who match the query criteria. These groups of voters are referred to as Saved Universes and Saved Lists, and are used to populate all canvassing tools with a list of voters.
Saved Universes are dynamic and will change in size depending on the selected criteria in the universe. For example, if the description for a Saved Universe includes people registered to vote after January 1st, 2013, the number of people who match that criteria will continue to grow as time passes and newly registered voters are dynamically added to your universe. Every time you utilize any of our canvassing tools involving the universe, the new voters will be automatically added to the list without the need to update the Previously Saved Universe. Unlike Saved Universes, Saved Lists do not change as the group of individuals who meet your criteria grow or shrink. Instead, Saved Lists are a snapshot of what that particular list of voters looks like at the time of generation of the list.
- To access the Create Voter Universe page, go to Universes/Lists in the navigation menu and click Create Voter Universes.
Navigating Create Voter Universes
Data Option Tabs
The 'Data Option Tabs' contain the criteria you can add to your pending criteria list. Criteria is added to the pending universe by clicking on the elements you would like to add to your pending list. The different types of criteria are divided into nine different categories: Simple Universe Query Builder, Fields, Vote History, Demographics, Geography, My Flags, Early Voting, Models, Saved Universes, Custom Data. A more in-depth look into each one of these categories can be found in the sections below.
The Simple Universe Query Builder features the most common categories of criteria. If you are looking for more options, click on the Advanced Universe Query Builder tab.
Counts and Save Button
The Counts section displays the number of Voters, Houses, Mailboxes, Landline Phones, Mobile Phones, and All Emails in the current universe. By default, these numbers are recalculated each time new criteria is added to the universe.
The View Crosstab for Pending Universe link allows you to view crosstab counts, and filter by utilizing the user created crosstabs. The View Tableau Visualization for Pending Universe link allows you to review your current universe in a Tableau report.
Clicking the Save Universe button will bring up the Save Universe pop-up, which allows you to create Universe Folders and create a Static List from your Universe, along with saving your universe. You can also set this universe as a Target or save it as a flag.
Once your universe has been saved, you will see a pop-up featuring some of our various pages that utilize Voter Universes.
Pending Criteria List
Pending Criteria - This section shows each criteria that you have selected to add to your universe, before you finalize your selection. You can think of this section as a shopping cart.
Clear - Clicking this button will remove the items in the Pending Criteria section.
Add Criteria by Household - Activating this option will open your universe to all voters in a household where at least 1 voter meets the criteria in the current pending criteria. If the button is deactivated, the system will only query for voters that meet the criteria in the pending criteria section.
Add Criteria Without Counts - Activating this option will allow you to add criteria groups to your universe, without calculating the added criteria. You will need to deactivate the button once you are ready to review the counts of your universe.
Add Criteria - Adds the criteria in the Pending Criteria section into the universe.
Once you have added criteria to your universe, you can continue to add more criteria. The options in the Pending Criteria section will look different, because they will include several options for how this new criteria should relate to the criteria you have already added.
Buttons to Add New Criteria by Intersection, Expansion and Negation
Intersect Criteria (AND) - Clicking this button combines the criteria that is currently in the pending universe with the criteria in the current universe. This button will narrow the scope of the universe by requiring voters to meet both the criteria of the current universe and the pending criteria.
Expand Criteria (OR) - Clicking this button expands the current universe by adding the voters who meet the pending criteria to the current universe.
Exclude Criteria (AND NOT) - Clicking this button narrows the scope of the current universe by removing the individuals in the current universe that meet the pending criteria.
Exclude Dead, Moved Voted, Suppress - Clicking this button removes the individuals who have been marked as dead, moved, already voted, or suppressed.
Pending Criteria Group
Remove Last Criteria - Clicking the link removes the last added criteria group from the universe, without updating the universe count.
Refresh Pending Universe - Clicking this button will refresh the count number in the universe. This is used after a pending criteria group in the universe has either been moved around, or removed, or the logic of the universe was changed, as the count number will not update automatically.
Up Arrow - Moves the criteria group up.
Down Arrow - Moves the criteria group down.
X Button - Removes the criteria group without recalculating the universe.
Drop-Down Menu - Allows you to change the operation of the criteria group (e.g., change from AND to OR).
Simple Universe Query Builder
The Simple Universe Query Builder tab features all of the essentials for creating a voter universe. Each of these categories is also included in the Advanced Universe Query Builder. You can find links to the sections of this article discussing each category in-depth below.
- Universes - Allows you to query for previously saved universes that have been added in as a target. See Saved Universes for more information.
- PDI Universes - Allows you to query for PDI Predefined Propensity Universes. See Vote History for more information.
- Contact Voters With - Allows you to query for voters who have certain types of communication. See Demographics.
- Voter IDs - Allows you to query for a voter's current support status. See My Flags.
- Party - Allows you to query for a voter's party registration. See Demographics.
- Age From & To - Allows you to query for voters within a selected age range. See Demographics.
- Gender - Allows you to query for voters marked as a specific gender. See Demographics.
- Ethnicity and Language - Allows you to query for voters who are in a particular ethnic group or who speak a specific language. See Demographics.
- Geography - Allows you to query for voters who are registered to vote in a specific location. See Geography.
Advanced Universe Query Builder
If the Simple Universe Query Builder does not have enough options, you can click on the Advanced Universe Query Builder tab. Here, you will be able to find additional categories.
To find more category options, click Add/Remove tabs. A pop-up will appear where you can select the categories you want to be displayed.
You can find more information about each of these categories by jumping to the corresponding section of this article:
Vote History Tab
The Vote History tab contains vote history and registration options to build complex universes, along with Predefined PDI Propensity Universes.
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Vote History – The Vote History section allows you to create comprehensive vote propensity targets based on voter turnout in past elections. The program will display a list of all elections within your account geography. You can incorporate each election by highlighting as many as you want to consider. The registration date range allows you to simply calibrate a voter’s performance to their duration of registration. The list of Elections can be viewed and selected in two different ways: the List by Election Type view will provide you with a list of generic elections, some of which may not have occurred in your geography, while the List all Elections by Date will display a list of all elections that have occurred in your account geography where at least 2% of the voting population has participated, arranged by date.
- All Ballots - This will include voters who voted by either absentee or by poll within your selected election.
- Mail Ballot Only – This option restricts the vote history parameters to individuals that voted using an absentee ballot in the selected elections. Elections where a voter cast their ballot at the polls will not be considered when this option is selected.
- Polls Only – This option restricts the vote history parameters to individuals that voted at the polls. Elections where a voter cast their ballot by mail will not be considered when this option is selected.
- Voted in at Least - The textbox sets the minimum number of votes required for a voter to qualify for the criteria based on the selected election dates.
- & No More Than – The textbox sets the maximum number of votes required to qualify a voter for the criteria based on the selected election dates.
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Voted In Criteria Above - Activating either the "AND" or "OR" button will create a criteria requirement containing both voting and registration history. The way the criteria are combined is dependent on the selected button.
- Registration From & To – Date range of registration dates. For greater than and less than parameters, users only need to enter one date. For example, Reg > 11/1/2004 can be entered by typing 11/1/2004 in the From field. The To field can remain blank.
- Registration Universe - This drop-down menu allows users to choose between a universe of voters based off registration date who have no previous vote history.
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PDI Universes – The PDI Universes drop-down menu provides propensity universes created by targeting consultants for Political Data. Detailed descriptions of each PDI Universe can be viewed in the Universe Description section.
- Universe Description - The Universe Description box displays the criteria of the selected Propensity Universe in the PDI Universes drop-down menu.
Demographics Tab
The Demographics tab contains fields related to the voter’s demographic profile, communication options, election results, and residential information. You can also use the Enter Criteria Below section to enter in freehand code to gain access to criteria options that are not available as clickable options.
Residential Information - Residential Information provides options about the type of residence the voter in. For example if the individual lives in an apartment, has a PO Box, or is a home owner.
Contact Voters With - Contact Voters With provides options about the different type of contact methods you can include in your universe. In addition to various types of phone communications, this section also includes an option for email addresses and social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
Comments - The comments textbox searches for voters with a matching comment. Activating the Everyone With a Comment checkbox will grab all voters who have at least 1 comment.
Miscellaneous Information - Contains a list of flag types outside of the standard support flags.
Geo-Demo Cluster - Contains a list of geographic and demographic clusters.
Enter Criteria Below - Allows you to enter in freehand code to create complex universes and access criteria that is not available in the Create Voter Universes page.
Party - Party contains different party types that you can include in your universe. This section contains both major and minor parties. Click here for a complete list of Parties.
Age- The Age textboxes allows you to set an age range for the criteria group.
Gender - The Gender drop-down menu contains the registered voter gender options.
Birthplace - The Birthplace list contains a list of states and Countries.
Married / Parents / Other - Married / Parents / Other contains options for if a household contains a veteran, if a voter is married, a parent or LGBT.
Type Codes - Allows you to query dependent on different voter registration history. Note: This feature is only available for Catalist provided data.
Ethnicity / Language - The Ethnicity / Language list contain options narrowing the scope of your universe to particular ethnic makeups, and languages. A voter's language is based off the language of the ballot that the voter chooses to receive.
Registered From & To - These textboxes allow you to search for voters who registered between to custom selected dates.
Registration Universe - The Registration Universe drop-down menu allows you to select a particular way a voter registered (e.g., voters who registered after the 2020 general election with no previous vote history).
Birthday Sends - The Birthday Sends drop-down menu contains a list of upcoming dates and months, which will have users whose dates of birth are within the selected range.
House Party Type - The House Party Type list contains a list of possible party combinations in a household.
Number of Voters in House - The textboxes allows you to set the required range of registered voters in a household.
Average Household Income - The textboxes allows you to set a household income range.
Election Results - Allows users to search areas that match the set election results from a previous election.
To see a full list of the options on this page with descriptions, click here.
Geography Tab
The Geography tab allows you to filter universes by geographic area in several different ways. Each of the sub-tabs in the page are listed below.
- Quick District Find - This tab allows you to quickly add any district to your criteria group by typing the name of the district.
- List of Districts – This tab allows you choose from a list of districts, precincts, zip codes, or carved areas.
- Rank Precincts – This tab allows you select individual precincts or set a range of parameters based on calculated density of the pending universe. The density is based on the total voters and households counts.
- Map Areas – This tab allows you draw a geographic area on a map.
Quick District Find
The Quick District Find section allows you to type in the name of the district you would like to add to your criteria group. Once you have begun typing the name into the textbox, you will see a pop-up featuring a list of districts that match with the text entered in the textbox. In the pop-up, click on the district you would like to add. You can select as many district types as necessary to generate your criteria group. If a district was added in error, click on the X button to remove the district.
If you click Can't find your district? an additional box will appear titled Special PDI Districts. You can use this box to look for districts that may not be in the official structure maintained by local elections or SOS offices, such as new or recently changed districts.
List of Districts
To select geographic districts in the List of Districts tab, use the Voter File Geography drop-down menu to select the district type you would like to add to the criteria group. The program will list all districts that overlap with your account's geography. These districts can be selected by activating the checkbox of the district, which will add it to your criteria group.
If the list of districts is too large, the list can be filtered by selecting a second geographic type and specific district name in the Only Areas and Areas drop-down menus, respectively. For example, for an account covering the entire state of California, you can filter a list of cities in Los Angeles County by selecting City in the List of Districts drop-down menu, then selecting County in the Only Areas drop-down menu and Los Angeles in the Areas drop-down menu. This feature is especially useful to filter precincts or ZIP codes with numerous values.
When you select Precincts or Zip Codes as your district type, you will notice a separate section on the right side of the tab which allow you to query precincts and zip codes more efficiently compared to scrolling through a long list of values and clicking on dozens of checkboxes.
If you cannot find a district in your account that should be listed, the district is likely not configured in the Universes/Lists -> Universe Builder/Report Output Configuration -> Manage District Type Options page.
Default Districts Displayed
- Assembly Districts
- Carved Areas
- Cities
- Community College Districts
- Congressional Districts
- County Board of Education
- County
- Elementary School Districts
- High School Districts
- PDI Defined Neighborhoods
- Precincts w/subs
- Precincts
- Registrar Defined Neighborhoods
- State Senatorial Districts
- Statewide
- Supervisorial Districts
- Unified School Districts
- Zip Codes
If you would like to upload an external list of precincts for your universe, click the Import External List of Precincts button. This will take you to the Import Precinct Data page, where you can upload spreadsheets of precincts. For more information about how to use the Import Precinct Data page, please go to the Import Precinct Data article.
Rank Precincts
One of the most innovative and useful features in the Geography tab is the ability to rank precincts in a pending universe before selecting them for your new criteria. Identifying dense precincts helps you send field canvassers to areas with the highest percentage of households in your target universe. You can also use Ranked Precincts to identify low density precincts that cannot be canvassed efficiently.
The Rank Precincts sub-tab will only work when you have at least one criteria added to a pending universes. In other words, if you do not have counts on your Create Voter Universe page, the program will have no data to calculate or rank.
The Rank Precincts feature can be used two different ways. Clicking on the Show Precinct Counts button generates a list of all precincts in your account geography with columns showing the total number of voters and households in your pending universe along with the respective percentages. The percentages are calculated by taking the universe voter or household count and dividing it by the total voter or household count. For example, if your universe has 100 voters out of a total of 200 voters in precinct 12345, your voter percentage for the precinct would be 50%.
You can sort the columns by clicking on the column header.
As you view the ranked precincts you can select one or more precincts to be added to new criteria by clicking on the checkboxes located to the left of each precinct. This method is good for selecting a limited number of precincts like the top ten or twenty, but is not ideal when you want to select more than twenty or so precincts.
To select a large number of precincts at one time, you can set a range of counts or percentages to query the precinct for your criteria. You can use the grid displayed when you click Show Ranked Precincts to provide a good understanding of a sensible range. You do not, however, need the grid to make your selection. You can use the Target Precincts By drop-down menu to select the method you would like to use to query for a group of precincts and use the From and To textboxes to set the range you would like to target. This method allows you to choose between total voter counts, total household counts, % voters, and % households, allowing to you specify the exact range for selecting dense precincts.
Ranking Precincts within the Current Universe
NOTE: This feature is only available when at least one criterion has been added to the universe definition.
- From the Geography tab, click on the Rank Precincts sub-tab.
- Use the Target Precincts By drop-down menu to select the method you would like to use to query for the precincts.
- Use the From and To textboxes to set the ranges to limit the range of precincts that is displayed. For voters and households this will be a numerical value; for Voters Percentage and Household Percentage, it will be a 1 to 100 value corresponding to the percentage of total people in the precinct.
Selecting Precincts Individually
- From the Geography tab, click on the Rank Precincts sub-tab.
- Click the Show Precinct Counts button.
- Activate the checkboxes of the precincts you would like to use for the universe.
Map Areas
The Map Area sub-tab borrows functionality from our various Mapping pages to allow you use existing turfs or draw new turfs to add as new criteria. This tool is very useful for selecting areas by precincts located in a specific part of your account geography. You can also use existing areas you created in the mapping module or draw a new geography to be used in new criteria. The primary benefit of this page is using geographies other than electoral districts and zip code.
If you already have a pending universe, you can select or draw your new geography and immediately see counts for the new area. This allows you to edit the area and make sure your counts are desirable.
Click here for more information on creating carved turf.
My Flags Tab
The My Flag Data tab displays flag and survey data that has been acquired or generated by your organization. Like the Geography tab, the My Flag Data tab features multiple tabs.
Support IDs – The Support IDs sub-tab allows you to easily add criteria for Support Status by Candidate, Ballot Measure, or Issue based on the most recent Support Status recorded and Support Status history. This sub-tab features two sections: Voter IDs and Support Status Flag.
My Flag Data - The My Flag Data sub-tab allows you to query all of the flag data that has been entered in your organization account.
Communications - The Communications sub-tab allows you to query for people based on communication receipt flag information, such as whether they clicked on an email you sent them.
Shared Flag Data - The Shared Flag Data sub-tab allows you to view shared flags that have been imported from other organizations.
Voter IDs
The Voter IDs section allows you to easily add criteria for Support Status by Candidate, Ballot Measure, or Issue based on the most recent Support Status ID recorded. The drop-down menu at the top of the section allow you to select a specific candidate, ballot measure, or issue to associate with the support status query. The organization account's default Candidate / Issue will be selected by default.
The checkboxes to the left of each Support Status are used to include the voters in your criteria. The checkboxes on the right let you exclude individual voters (Exclude Voters column) or exclude an entire household (Houses column) if one voter in that household has the selected support status. For example, if you want to exclude people who live in a household with a person identified as Lean Oppose or Strong Oppose, you will need to activate the Lean Oppose and Strong Oppose (No) checkboxes in the Exclude Houses column.
When support statuses are selected together in the same criteria group, the system will place an invisible operator between each selected support status option. Activating the include option will add an OR operator between the selected elements, allowing you to include multiple support criteria in the criteria group. For example, if you include Lean Support and Undecided in the same criteria group, the system will include all voters who are identified as Lean Support or as Undecided.
Activating either Exclude option will add an AND operator between the selected elements, allowing you to remove each selected support status from the criteria group. For example, if you exclude Strong Oppose (No) and Refused to Say in the same criteria group, the system will exclude all voters who are identified as Strong Oppose (No) and all voters who are identified as Refused to Say. (Think of it as the system only including voters who are not identified as Strong Oppose (No) and who are not identified as Refused to Say.)
Support Status Flag
The right side of the Support IDs sub-tab allows you to query for individuals who feature specific support status histories. This section features a drop-down menu at the top, which allows you to select the Candidate, Issue, or Ballot Measure you will use for identifying voters based on the series of Support Status IDs.
The Support Status responses are listed in chronological order, which should be read from left to right, with the leftmost Support Status being the first Support Status issued and the rightmost Support Status being the most recent Support Status issued. For example, if a voter is identified as Undecided but a month later is identified as a Strong Supporter, the individual would have a support string of U|SS.
This section displays every combination of Support Status ID history in your organization account. Every string of Support Status IDs displayed represents at least one voter. This tool is useful for tracking changes in Support IDs and makes it possible to identify and then analyze voters who have changed their level of support.
My Flag Data
The My Flag Data tab allows you to query your flag data by many different parameters. This tab can be as simple or complex as you need it to be. Flags have many data points associated with them.
If you only need to query a single flag response, you can select the value in the Flag Response drop-down box menu to add the criteria.
If you want to filter your query using the associated Candidate/Issue, Survey Question, Acquisition Type, or Entry Date along with the person who collected or entered the data and the type of Flag Response, you can use any of the drop-down menus in the tab. (User Name, Canvasser Name, and Flag Response Type are only visible if you activate the Show Additional Options checkbox.)
For most of your simple queries with flags, using only the drop-downs menus will be sufficient. As you acquire more flags you may outgrow the basic functionality of the drop-down menus and require the more advanced features in this sub-tab.
Activating the Show Flag Grid checkbox changes how the whole page functions to allow for more complicated functionality. The drop-down menus are now used only to filter value options listed in the Flag Grid table to the right. To add criteria, you must activate the checkboxes of the rows from the Flag Grid associated with the ID Flags you wish to use. The Flag Grid table makes it possible to select multiple ID Flags at the same time and view a breakdown of your flags by their metadata. The data in the table can even be split by acquisition type and date.
Note: This section will query for any person who ever has received this flag; because of this, you will not want to use this tab to query for an individual's latest support status. Use the Support IDs tab to query for an individual's current support status.
Communications
When you communicate with voters or contacts using the PDI system, the statuses of the communications are sent back to the system and can be used for querying new universes. The system records the deliveries sent, categories, results, and dates sent. Selecting elements from multiple categories will limit the criteria group to only the voters that meet all of the selected options. For example, if you select a delivery and the Read Email result, this will limit the criteria group to only the individuals who read the email from the selected delivery.
The five sections on this page are Delivery Date, Communication Types, Communications (which allows you to select specific deliveries), Email Categories, and Status (for example, Read Email or Wrong Number).
Shared Flag Data
This sub-tab allows you to query ID Flags that are being shared with your Organization Account by other Organization Accounts. This data is on a different tab from your ID Flag data so that the data from other Organization Accounts does not get mixed up with yours.
Like on the My Flag Data sub-tab, you can filter by Candidate/Issue, Entry Date, and Survey Question. You can also filter by the Account Owner and the Flag ID.
Early Voting Tab
The Early Voting tab contains the following information:
- Issued Mail Ballot – This option identifies voters who have been processed by the local registrar of voters to receive a mail ballot. This data is based on file updates from the registrar of voters and includes absentee applicants, permanent absentee voters, and voters in mail ballot precincts. You can also filter these voters by party.
- Returned Ballots (Voted or Returned Postal Delivery) – This field identifies voters who have returned their mail ballot to the local Registrar of Voters. This field may also include ballots returned by the post office as “Undeliverable”. These voters should be excluded from further contact from the campaign since they have already voted. (Based on data from county registrars)
- Permanent Mail Ballot Voter – Based on voter data file, these voters will automatically receive a ballot in the mail for every election in their districts.
- Mail Ballot Precincts – Mail Ballot Precincts are assigned by local registrars to identify precincts that do not have a polling place for an upcoming election cycle. Voters in mail ballot precinct may or may not be permanent absentee voters but will be treated similarly by the local registrar for the upcoming election cycle. Note: This data point only exist once polling places has been uploaded for your county.
- Voters Who Always Return Their Ballots Early – This field identifies voters who have historically always returned their absentee ballot prior to the final 8 days of an election cycle. The objective for this field is to help campaigns prioritize mail ballot voters by their behavior in past election. (Based on the PDI Mail Ballot Return Score.)
- Voters Who Usually Return Their Ballots Early – This field identifies voters who usually returned their absentee ballot prior to the final 8 days of an election cycle. The objective for this field is to help campaigns prioritize mail ballot voters by their behavior in past election. (Based on the PDI Mail Ballot Return Score.)
- Voters Who Have Returned Their Ballot Early and Late – This field identifies voters who have returned their absentee ballot both early and late. The objective for this field is to help campaigns prioritize mail ballot voters by their behavior in past election. (Based on the PDI Mail Ballot Return Score.)
- Voters Who Usually Return Their Ballots Late – This field identifies voters who usually returned their absentee ballot within the final 8 days of an election cycle. The objective for this field is to help campaigns prioritize mail ballot voters by their behavior in past election. (Based on the PDI Mail Ballot Return Score.)
- Voters Who Always Return Their Ballots Late – This field identifies voters who have historically always returned their absentee ballot within the final 8 days of an election cycle. The objective for this field is to help campaigns prioritize mail ballot voters by their behavior in past election. (Based on the PDI Mail Ballot Return Score.)
- Voters Who Voted By Mail At Least 1 Time – Voted at least once by absentee ballot since 2008.
- Voters Who Voted By Mail At Least 2 Times – Voted at least twice by absentee ballot since 2008.
Models Tab
The Models tab allows you to add up to 2 models in a Criteria Group. Once a model is selected, the graph to the right will visualize the selected model. You can then use the slider to select the score range you intend to use for the selected model. For a more precise selection of the model, use the From and To textboxes to enter in the score range you would like to use for your model.
Model Category - This drop-down menu allows users to choose the category of where the model comes from.
Model Name - This drop-down menu allows users to choose the model that will be added to the pending criteria.
Model Info - This section displays the details of the selected model.
From - Allows users to use the textbox to enter in the precise value they would like to use as the starting range of the model.
To - Allows users to use the textbox to enter in the precise value they would like to use as the ending range of the model.
Saved Universes Tab
The Saved Universes tab allows you to add previously saved universes to a Criteria Group, edit the universe, deactivate the universe from your Organization Account, and add universes as a Target Universe. You can filter existing universes by folder, name, creator, and creation date. You can also access your previously saved Static Lists by activating the Saved Static List checkbox.
If you click on the name of the universe, a pop-up box will appear on the right side displaying the details of the universe and giving you the ability to deactivate the universe, add it as a target, or make edits. Be extremely careful when editing saved universes that could be nested within another universe.
- Saved Universe - Activating the checkbox displays a list of all of the universes created in the organization account.
- Saved Static List - Activating the checkbox displays a list of all of the saved list created in the organization account.
- Universe Name - This textbox allows users to search for a specific universe by name.
- Filter By Folder - This drop-down menu allows users to search for a universe by folder name.
- Filter By Creator - This drop-down menu allows users to search for a universe by the users name.
- From - Populates a calendar that allows users to filter the list by date.
- To - Populates a calendar that allows users to filter the list by date.
- Deactivate (Hide) This Universe - Activating this checkbox deactivates the universe and hides it from all pages in the program except the Manage Universes / List page.
- Set Universe as Target - Activating this checkbox adds the universe to the Saved Universe section in the Simple Target Fields tab.
- Edit Universe - Clicking the button will reload the universe, allowing you to make changes to a preexisting universe.
Custom Data Tab
The Custom Data tab is usually reserved for large member organizations like labor unions or trade associations. The tab has three filter layers for drilling down small groups of members within a large organization.
Please contact your PDI account representative if you would like more information about loading your organization’s member data into the PDI software.
View Crosstabs for Pending Universe
Pending universes can be analyzed and even modified using the View Crosstab feature in the Create Universe page. After you add the first criteria to your universe, a View Crosstab for Pending Universe link will appear below the counts in the Counts and Save Universe section of the Create Universes page.
Clicking on the View Crosstab for Pending Universe button will display a pop-up window without interfering with your pending work in progress.
You can add two demographic field options to generate your crosstabs from the Run Counts By drop-down menus on the left-hand side of the pop-up (for example, Age, Ethnicity, or Gender).
The right-hand side features the Display Counts for section, which allows you to select the types of counts you would like to review in your crosstab. The Display Counts for section features the following options: Voters, Houses, Mail Boxes, and Phones.
Once the selections have been made, click the Process counts button that will appear in the window.
The program will then display a comprehensive view of your pending universe counts broken out by the selected demographic field options.
You can review the counts for analysis or activate the Include or Exclude checkboxes on each row to actually modify your pending universe. Click the Add Criteria to Universe button in the bottom left corner when you are finished, and the window will close with your new modified counts appearing on the Create Universes page.
NOTE: This feature is only available when at least one criterion has been added to the universe definition.
View Tableau Visualization for Pending Universe
When you click on the View Tableau Visualization for Pending Universe link, the program will pull up your pending universe in a Tableau report. The changes made in the Tableau report will not affect the criteria of your universe, however, you can use the report as a reference to further improve your universe. Click here for more information on our Data Visualization.
NOTE: This feature is only available when at least one criterion has been added to the universe definition.
Editing Criteria Groups and Previously Saved Universes
Editing Criteria Groups
If your universe contains more than one criteria group, you will gain access to additional options to edit the universe by deleting criteria groups, adding new criteria groups, rearranging the order of criteria groups, and change the logical operators between criteria groups. The program does not support editing an existing criteria group. If a criteria group was added in error, it is recommended that you create the correct criteria group, add it to your universe, and delete the incorrect criteria group.
At the top of the Pending Universe section, the program displays the logical structure of your universe. There is also a Remove Last Criteria button, which you can click if you realize the most recent criteria you added had an error.
To reposition or delete criteria, click on the applicable icon located on the right margin of each criteria group (Up Arrow, Down Arrow, and Delete (X) ). As you reposition your criteria, you should review the logical structure at the top of the Pending Universe section to make sure it is still accurate.
To change the logical operators, simply change the operator in the drop-down menus between each criteria group. This can get complicated when your universe contains both an AND and OR operators. Please review the Knowing How Criteria Groups Relate section below for information on logical operators.
Once you have completed making changes to your criteria groups, click the Refresh Pending Universe button. This will update your counts to reflect your changes.
Editing a Previously Saved Universe
To edit a saved universe, go to the Saved Universes tab and click on the name of the universe you wish to edit. A pop-up box will appear to the right of your list of universes.
Click on the Edit Universe button to load the universe. The universe will be fully editable once loaded. You can then make the changes to your universe. You will need to click the Save Universe button twice: once in the Counts section of the universe editor, exactly as you normally would, and once in the pop-up box.
Knowing How Criteria Relate
Knowing how multiple criteria relate to each other is extremely important, especially when it involves universes that use both (AND) and (OR) operators. The order in which criteria are added and with what operator is just as important as the values of the criterion being selected. It is imperative that you give thought to how best to build your universe before beginning the creation process. Grouping the criteria incorrectly may produce inaccurate results.
For example, look at the statement “Democrat & Female or Latino.” As written, it cannot be known for sure if the author intended for the Democrat to be grouped with the Female or the Female to be grouped with the Latino. The two interpretations would yield very different counts making it very important to know the correct grouping.
Option 1 - (Democrat & Female) or Latino
Option 2 - Latino or Democrat & (Female or Latino)
Since the program does not let users place parentheses within a universe, they must rely on the default process for associating multiple criteria. The program by default groups new criteria with the entire body of criteria that was previously added.
(Original Criteria)
[(Original Criteria) (New Criteria)]
[((Original Criteria) (Second Criteria)) (New Criteria)]
[((Original Criteria) (Second Criteria) (Third Criteria)) (New Criteria)]
This structure promotes the use of (OR) operators before (AND) / (And NOT) operators, as users should try to select all like criteria and then narrow, unless specifically looking to do otherwise. For example, (Dem or Female or Latino) and Permanent Vote by Mail. Each qualifying individual would need to be a PVBM.
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Intersect Criteria (AND) - This option will intersect all prior criteria groups with the newly intersected criteria group. For example, if criteria group one contains Democrat, and criteria group 2 contains Republican with an OR logic operator between criteria group 1 and 2 , and we intersect a third criteria group containing Latino, then our universe will only contain Democratic Latino voters and Republican Latino voters.
- Note: This option should be used when you want to filter your universe to particular criteria groups.
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Expand Criteria (OR) - This option will expand your universe to include all voters that meet the qualifications in the selected criteria group.
- Note: This option should be used when you want to include an additional group of voters to your universe.
- Exclude Criteria (AND NOT) - This option will remove the voters that meet the qualifications of the selected criteria group from the universe. This logic operator will remove the selected criteria group from all prior criteria groups in your universe.
- Exclude Dead Moved Voted and Suppress - This option will remove anyone who has been flagged as Dead, Moved, Voted, Suppressed, or National Change of Address from your universe.
Nesting Previously Saved Universes in New Saved Universes
Once a universe is saved, it can be used or “nested” within a new universe. This process makes it easier to build complex universes. Nested Saved Universes will display only their name in the Pending Universe Details box at the bottom of the Create Universes page.
- To build a Nested Universe, simply select and add a previously Saved Universe to the Pending Criteria, then click Add Criteria to Universe button or logic operator to move it to the Pending Universe Details area.
- Finish creating your universe.
- Click the Save Universe button and save your universe.
Nesting Saved Universes
- Construct the desired primary universe or list as outlined in Create a Saved Universe or Create a Saved List sub-section featured in the Step-by-Step Guide section below.
- In the Saved Universe tab, activate the checkbox of the universe you would like to nest in your universe.
- Select the desired operator button to bring this criterion to your universe.
- Click the Save Universe button.
- Use the Universe Name textbox to assign a name to your universe.
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(Optional) Use the Universe Folder drop-down menu to select the folder you would like to place the universe in.
- (Optional) If the desired category does not exist, it can be created by clicking the Add New Folder link.
- Use the Name textbox to assign a name to your folder.
- Click the Save button.
- (Optional) If you would like to save a Static List version of your universe, activate the Save as Static List checkbox.
- Click the Save Universe button.
Step-By-Step Guide
Create a Saved Universe
- Select the desired criteria/on from the tabs provided.
- When done, click the Add Criteria button. The module will process counts of voters, houses, mailboxes, all phones and all emails based on the criteria/on added.
- (Optional) From this point on, the last criteria group can be removed by clicking the Remove Last Criteria link. The entire universe criteria can be removed by clicking the Clear Entire Universe link.
- The universe can be refined via a cross-tab by clicking the View Crosstab for Pending Universe link.
- (Optional) To narrow the scope of the current universe by intersecting it with additional criteria/on, select the criteria/on from the tabs provided and then click Intersect Criteria (AND). The module will revise counts of voters, houses, mailboxes, all phones, and all emails based on the criteria/on added.
- (Optional) To expand the current universe by adding additional criteria/on, select the criteria/on from the tabs provided and then click Expand Criteria (OR). The module will revise counts of voters, houses, mailboxes, all phones, and all emails based on the criteria/on added.
- (Optional) To remove voters from the current universe by adding additional criteria/on, select the criteria/on from the tabs provided and then click Exclude Criteria (AND NOT). The module will revise counts of voters, houses, mailboxes, all phones, and all emails based on the criteria/on added.
- (Optional) To remove dead individuals, those voters registered with NCOA (National Change of Address), those flagged as Suppressed and those marked on the voter file as voted in the current election from the current universe, click the Exclude Dead, Moved, Voted, Suppress button. The module will revise counts of voters, houses, mailboxes, all phones, and all emails based on the criteria/on added.
- Click the Save Universe button.
- Use the Universe Name textbox to assign a name to your universe.
- (Optional) Use the Universe Folder drop-down menu to select the folder you would like to place the universe in.
- (Optional) If the desired category does not exist, it can be created by clicking the Add New Folder link.
- Use the Name textbox to assign a name to your folder.
- Click the Save button.
- Click the Save Universe button.
Create a Saved List
- Select the desired criteria/on from the tabs provided.
- When done, click the Add Criteria button. The module will process counts of voters, houses, mailboxes, all phones and all emails based on the criteria/on added.
- (Optional) From this point on, the last criteria group can be removed by clicking the Remove Last Criteria link. The entire universe criteria can be removed by clicking the Clear Entire Universe link.
- The universe can be refined via a cross-tab by clicking the View Crosstab for Pending Universe link.
- (Optional) To narrow the scope of the current universe by intersecting it with additional criteria/on, select the criteria/on from the tabs provided and then click Intersect Criteria (AND). The module will revise counts of voters, houses, mailboxes, all phones, and all emails based on the criteria/on added.
- (Optional) To expand the current universe by adding additional criteria/on, select the criteria/on from the tabs provided and then click Expand Criteria (OR). The module will revise counts of voters, houses, mailboxes, all phones, and all emails based on the criteria/on added.
- (Optional) To remove voters from the current universe by adding additional criteria/on, select the criteria/on from the tabs provided and then click Exclude Criteria (AND NOT). The module will revise counts of voters, houses, mailboxes, all phones, and all emails based on the criteria/on added.
- (Optional) To remove dead, those voters registered with NCOA (National Change of Address), those flagged as Suppressed and those marked on the voter file as voted in the current election from the current universe, click the Exclude Dead, Moved, Voted, Suppress button. The module will revise counts of voters, houses, mailboxes, all phones, and all emails based on the criteria/on added.
- Click the Save Universe button.
- Use the Universe Name textbox to assign a name to your universe.
- (Optional) Use the Universe Folder drop-down menu to select the folder you would like to place the universe in.
- (Optional) If the desired category does not exist, it can be created by clicking the Add New Folder link.
- Use the Name textbox to assign a name to your folder.
- Click the Save button.
- Activate the Save as Static List checkbox.
- Click the Save Universe button.