February 17, 2022

Special Redistricting Edition #5

Mailing Address Clean-Up

Before you send new voter information cards (Voter ID Cards) to voters after the completion of redistricting (informing voters of any district or precinct changes), the Bureau recommends you review the mailing addresses of your voters. You should standardize, whenever possible, the address formats to match USPS standards.  This will help minimize errors and costs associated with mail returned unnecessarily.  The Custom Voter List from QVF allows you to include mailing addresses and export the data in a csv file. If you open that file in Excel and filter the blank rows in the “Address Line 1” column, you can quickly identify non-standard mailing addresses in your jurisdiction and correct any problematic data entry issues.

Here are some guidelines to keep in mind when reviewing mailing addresses in QVF:

• Voter name is automatically included on an address label; do not include voter name in mailing address Line 1.
• Do not include street address AND a PO Box in the mailing address (with the exception of commercial mail receiving agency, such as the UPS Store where street number and box go on the same line).
• Be consistent with how you enter post office boxes. Punctuation is not necessary, and avoid variations of PO Box, such as POB or Box.
• When a mailing address is in another country, check the “International Address” box in QVF. Domestic addresses should be formatted to fit on three lines only.

Examples of address formatting can be found at these links on the USPS website:

• Address Format Examples
• International Addressing Requirements

In this issue:

• Mailing Address Clean-Up
• Redistricting Phase 1 Update

Redistricting Phase 1 Update

New district assignments have been completed in QVF for those jurisdictions which are wholly contained within a single State House, State Senate, US Congress, and County Commissioner District under the 2022 redistricting and county commission reapportionment plans. These jurisdictions successfully had their redistricting values assigned for all 4 district types.  You can see if your jurisdiction or county is on this list here.

Please review your street index for accuracy, especially with respect to the County Commissioner Districts and precincts. If there were existing errors with a street segment prior to redistricting those errors may have persisted and carried over, or they may have impacted the updated district assignments.  You may review this information through QVF’s Street Index Listing report, or through the Permanent Geography module. Please contact Nicholas Daum at daumn1@michigan.gov ASAP if you find any errors or have concerns about your district assignments.

Please note that the jurisdictions having a March and May Special Election, as well as those who will be the “new” 15, 36, 43 and 74 State House Districts will be updated in QVF following the May election – they have not yet been updated to avoid disruption to Spring elections.

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