State Absentee (Pre Election Day) Ballot Request Proposal
The VRI Specification currently supports digital analogs of the NVRA (National Voter Registration Act) and FPCA (Federal Postcard Application) forms. FPCA is a combined voter registration and absentee request.
Perhaps the second most common transaction after voter registration is requests for a pre-election day ballot.
A semantic model of the absentee (pre-election day) requests is available here
Absentee ballot requests generally consist of a subset of information required by a voter registration request. However, this is not always the case. Some states that require a valid excuse to voter absentee, additional addressing information, etc.
When registration and absentee information is provided in a single request, it is implied that a single vehicle is being used for such a request (a hybrid form), rather than two separate transactions. Separate transactions should be represented as two distinct instances.
Background
Originally, FPCA related attributes were combined with the VoterRegistration class. This made sense when the class only supported FPCA and NVRA style forms. With the addition of state specific absentee support, a more general structure is required.
The revised structure supports the following scenarios
Voter registration only (e.g. NVRA, State Form)
Absentee requests only (E.g. State Form)
Combinations of both (e.g. FPCA)
A general request (e.g. a lookup)
Changes
This proposal makes a number of breaking changes to the existing VRI specification. These breaking changes were made in order to (1) allow an absentee ballot request independent of a voter registration request, and (2) reduce the duplication when absentee and voter registration requests are combined.
Structural Changes
Instead of every VoterRecordsRequest requiring a VoterRegistration instance, it now requires a Voter instance. This instance contains common attributes between absentee and voter registration forms, such as those for establishing identity (e.g. Name, VoterId, etc.).
Associations moved from VoterRegistration:
AdditionalInfo
ContactMethod
Name
Party
RegistrationHelper (now RequestHelper)
RegistrationProxy (now RequestProxy)
Signature
VoterClassification
VoterId
Attributes moved from VoterRegistration:
DateOfBirth
Gender
MailingAddress
RegistrationAddress
RegistrationAddressIsMailingAddress
OtherForm
Form
Other attributes in VoterRegistration specific to FPCA have been moved to the BallotRequest detailed below.
Absentee Support
Absentee support is provided via the BallotRequest abstract class. Depending on the laws of the state, one or more concrete implementations will apply:
PermanentAbsenteeBallotRequest. For a state that allows permanent absentee ballot requests with no specific time expiration.
ElectionBasedAbsenteeBallotRequest. For a state that allows for a request for a single election event.
CalendarBasedAbsenteeBallotRequest. For a state that allows a request for a time period, such as an election cycle calendar.
State Absentee (Pre Election Day) Ballot Request Proposal
The VRI Specification currently supports digital analogs of the NVRA (National Voter Registration Act) and FPCA (Federal Postcard Application) forms. FPCA is a combined voter registration and absentee request.
Perhaps the second most common transaction after voter registration is requests for a pre-election day ballot.
A semantic model of the absentee (pre-election day) requests is available here
Absentee ballot requests generally consist of a subset of information required by a voter registration request. However, this is not always the case. Some states that require a valid excuse to voter absentee, additional addressing information, etc.
When registration and absentee information is provided in a single request, it is implied that a single vehicle is being used for such a request (a hybrid form), rather than two separate transactions. Separate transactions should be represented as two distinct instances.
Background
Originally, FPCA related attributes were combined with the VoterRegistration class. This made sense when the class only supported FPCA and NVRA style forms. With the addition of state specific absentee support, a more general structure is required.
The revised structure supports the following scenarios
Changes
This proposal makes a number of breaking changes to the existing VRI specification. These breaking changes were made in order to (1) allow an absentee ballot request independent of a voter registration request, and (2) reduce the duplication when absentee and voter registration requests are combined.
Structural Changes
Instead of every VoterRecordsRequest requiring a VoterRegistration instance, it now requires a Voter instance. This instance contains common attributes between absentee and voter registration forms, such as those for establishing identity (e.g. Name, VoterId, etc.).
Associations moved from VoterRegistration:
Attributes moved from VoterRegistration:
Other attributes in VoterRegistration specific to FPCA have been moved to the BallotRequest detailed below.
Absentee Support
Absentee support is provided via the BallotRequest abstract class. Depending on the laws of the state, one or more concrete implementations will apply: