Electoral register import, matching and history

Import your council's register data. Every elector gets their own record with a full history, plotted on your campaign map and ready for door-knocking straight away.

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The Electors page for a branch: 11,677 active electors, postal and proxy voters, how many are placed on the map and a breakdown by ward.

The electoral registerElectoral register nounThe official list of everyone registered to vote in a local authority area, published in full once a year with monthly updates in between.In Cadrify Cadrify imports the register on every update, matches it to the right ward and polling district by GSS code, and keeps each import as its own dated version so nothing recorded about an elector is lost.Full definition →, the list of everyone registered to vote in an area, is the foundation of campaigning in Britain. Your council will typically provide it as a spreadsheet, but the format differs from council to council, with different columns and different file types. Cadrify reads those files and processes them automatically, so there is nothing for you to do. For more complex files, you can map the columns yourself and split them into Cadrify's own structure.

Councils send several kinds of file. Alongside the full registerFull register nounThe complete electoral register, listing every registered elector with their name and qualifying address. Access is restricted by law to candidates, parties, elected representatives and a short list of other bodies.In Cadrify Cadrify is built for full-register data and holds it as a processor, with your organisation as the controller.Full definition → there is a postal voters list, a set of elector updates so you can keep the register current between full copies, and the marked register after an election, which records who voted.

Each row becomes an elector record that persists across every import that follows. When the next register arrives, Cadrify works out who is the same person as before, who has moved, who is new to the roll and who has come off it. We use Ministry of Justice record-linkage technology to make the match, so nothing you have recorded on the doorstep is lost when the council renumbers the register or an elector moves house.

Most councils will supply a UPRNUPRN nounUnique property reference number. The identifier Ordnance Survey and local authorities give to every addressable location in Britain, from a house to a bin store.In Cadrify Cadrify stores the UPRN against an address wherever the register supplies one and uses it to place that address at its exact coordinates, so the match holds even if the street is renamed.Full definition →, a Unique Property Reference Number, for each address on the register. Cadrify uses it to place every elector at the exact building, which keeps rounds, leaflet drops and polling day coverage accurate to the door. For councils that leave it out, we support our own geocoding at the industry standard, for a small fee shown on the pricing page.

How an import works

1

Choose the file the council sent

Councils issue several kinds of register file. Choose the import that best matches it, since each needs to be processed in a slightly different way.

Cadrify also opens CSV, TSV and Excel files directly, including password-protected Excel exports. Enter the password when asked and it is used once to open the file, then discarded.

The import chooser, with one card for each kind of council file: full register, marked register, postal voters, proxy voters and elector changes.
2

Map the columns

Cadrify reads the file's headings and lines them up with its own fields automatically wherever the heading makes it clear. For a more complex or unfamiliar layout, match up the rest yourself with a simple drag and drop.

The mapping is saved against that council's layout. The next file from the same council skips this step.

The map columns step of the import wizard, with the file's headings on the left and the Cadrify field each one feeds on the right.
3

Records are matched

The first time an elector is imported into Cadrify, it creates a new record for them. On every import after that, where we find a match, it updates the existing record instead of creating a new one. We use Splink, the record-linkage library built by the Ministry of Justice, to compare names, addresses, postcodes and dates of birth and score each possible match. We do not rely on the council's elector numberElector number nounThe reference identifying one person on the electoral register, written as a polling district code followed by a number, such as HOL2-431. It is what tellers collect and what has to be written beside every assentor on a nomination paper.In Cadrify Cadrify holds the current register number on every elector record, so telling and nomination paperwork read the same source.Full definition →, which changes when the register is republished.

Confident matches link automatically. Borderline ones go to a review queue, where an organiser decides whether to link them by hand.

The review step of a completed import, showing rows in the file, how many matched existing electors, how many were new and how many were deregistered.
4

Every elector has a record

Each person on the register gets one record that carries everything you know about them: their register details, their score and core party affiliation from the doorstep, whether they hold a postal vote, which elections they turned out for and every change the council has made to their entry.

The activity timeline shows the door-knocks, calls, votes and register changes in one list, so a volunteer can see the whole history before they knock.

An elector's record: register details with a postal vote, the doorstep score and party entry strip, and the activity timeline.
5

Placed on the map from the council's UPRN

Most councils include a Unique Property Reference Number for every address. Cadrify uses it to place each elector at the right building, which is what lets it build door-knocking rounds that follow the street, print walk sheets in order and show polling day coverage house by house.

If your council leaves the UPRN out, Cadrify supports its own geocoding at the industry standard, which gives good quality results at the exact address. Postcode-level placement is free, and per-address geocoding is a small fee per lookup, as shown on the pricing page.

The ward dashboard map, with a pin for every elector placed at their address and coloured by doorstep score.

In practice

Setting up a new organisation

Request the full register from each council you cover and import them one at a time. Every row becomes an elector, every address is placed on the map and the wards you cover are ready for rounds. The import runs in the background, so you can carry on setting up while it works.

A new register arrives from the council

Import it as a full refresh. Cadrify matches each row to the electors it already holds, adds the new ones and marks anyone no longer on the roll as deregistered, so their record is kept. Your doorstep data stays attached to the right people.

The monthly alterations

Councils publish additions, deletions and amendments between full registers. Load the elector changes file and only those rows are touched. You do not need to re-import the whole register to stay current.

Postal and proxy voters

Import the absent voters list and every elector on it is flagged as postal or proxy. Filters, rounds and polling day all read the flag, so a postal voter is not knocked up on the day and you can filter on postal voters.

After the election

Import the marked register and each elector's record shows whether they voted. Do it after every election and you build a turnout history you can filter on for the next one. Paper marked registers are handled by the marked register digitisation module.

FAQ

Will it read my council's format?

Yes. Different councils use different software and column names, so the import reads the headings in your file and asks you to confirm what each column is the first time. After that the mapping is saved and reused. CSV, TSV and Excel are all accepted.

What happens to my canvass data when the register changes?

It stays with the person. Matching is done on names, address, postcode and date of birth, so a republished register or a house move within the ward does not orphan the scores and notes you recorded.

How accurate is the matching?

Confident matches are linked without review. Anything uncertain is queued for an organiser to confirm, and anything that scores below the review line becomes a new elector. The thresholds are deliberately conservative so a wrong link is rare, and every decision is logged.

Do I need the UPRN column?

No, but it is worth asking your council for it. Councils do not always provide it by default, but most will supply it if you ask. Without it, placement is at postcode level for free, and per-address geocoding is available as a metered option for the wards where you need doors in order.

Is the register held securely?

Each organisation's data is isolated at the database level, access follows your branch hierarchy and every import, edit and export is written to the audit log. How we handle your register is set out in full on its own page.

Can I edit a record by hand?

Yes. If the register has something wrong or a resident tells you about a change, edit the record directly. The edit is logged and survives the next import.

Can I get my data back out?

At any time. Export the full register with everything you have added to it as a standard CSV, during a trial and afterwards.

What this means for your campaign

The register is the base the whole campaign works from. Rounds, leaflet drops and filters are drawn from it and get out the vote works through it. Every knock, call and vote lands back on the elector it belongs to.

Nobody spends volunteer hours reconciling register spreadsheets by hand.

See Cadrify in action

Book a demo and we will walk you through it on a real ward.

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