Voter Data Infrastructure  ·  Ohio 2026

Voter Scoring &
Targeting Criteria

How registered voters are scored for targeting and outreach

Overview
How Voters Are Scored
Purpose Every registered voter receives two independent scores: a Soft Republican score and an Independent score. A voter can score high in both simultaneously. Scores are based entirely on publicly available vote history data — no modeling, no inference about beliefs. The scores reflect observable behavior patterns only.

Vote History Key — What the codes mean

RPrimary: Pulled Republican ballot
DPrimary: Pulled Democrat ballot
XPrimary: Voted issues-only (nonpartisan ballot)  |  General: Voted
(blank)Did not vote in that election
Category 1
Soft Republican Score
How this score is computed The Soft Republican score is calculated only for voters who pulled at least one Republican primary ballot in a tracked primary year (2008–2026). Points are assigned for each record-based condition below; the score is their sum.
Points Awarded — Soft Republican
+20
Fewer than 3 Republican ballots pulled across the 2016, 2020, 2022, and 2024 primaries
+20
2008 primary ballot was Democratic or issues-only (X), and at least one Republican ballot was pulled in the 2016–2024 window
+15
2024 primary ballot was blank or issues-only (X)
+15
Voted in the 2020 general but not in the 2022 general
+10
2022 primary ballot was blank or issues-only (X)
+10
Voter status is CONFIRMATION and the most recent general voted is 2016 or later
+10
Recent participation rate below 50%
Recent participation rate = share of the most recent 5 even-year general elections (those held since the voter registered) that the voter voted in
Category 2
Independent Score
How this score is computed The Independent score is calculated for every voter. Points are assigned for each record-based condition below; the score is their sum.
Points Awarded — Independent
+30
No Republican or Democratic primary ballot in any tracked primary year (2008–2026)
+20
Voted in the 2020 or 2024 general election
+15
No Republican or Democratic primary ballot in any tracked year, and voted in the 2024 general
+15
Recent participation rate 60% or higher
+10
Pulled an issues-only (X) ballot in at least one tracked primary year
+10
Currently ACTIVE voter status
Score Ranges
Category Definitions
Score → Category Mapping (applies to both Soft R and Independent)
ScoreCategoryDefinition
50 or aboveHIGHScore of 50 or higher.
25 – 49MEDIUMScore of 25 to 49.
1 – 24LOWScore of 1 to 24.
(blank)—No points scored in this category.
The two scores are independent Soft Republican and Independent are computed separately, so a voter can receive points in both. Note that the +30 “no partisan primary ballot” Independent points cannot apply to any voter who has a Republican or Democratic primary ballot on record, because that condition requires zero R and zero D ballots in all tracked years.
Additional Flag
Dropout Flag
What it records The Dropout Flag records the most recent general election a voter participated in, for voters whose most recent general was before 2024. It is independent of the Soft Republican and Independent scores.
Dropout Flag Values
Value
“Dropped after [year]” — the voter’s most recent general election was that year (any year from 2004 through 2022)
(blank)
Most recent general voted was 2024
Never voted general
No general election on record for this voter
Category 3
Strong Republicans
What this identifies Voters who meet all of the criteria below. Used for opposition mapping and to remove overlap from outreach/walk lists.
Qualification Criteria — Strong Republican (all must apply)
Required
Pulled R ballot in the 2024 primary
Required
Pulled R ballot in the 2022 primary
Required
Never pulled D ballot in any recorded primary (2012–2024)
Required
Voted in at least 3 of the 4 most recent general elections (2016, 2020, 2022, 2024)
Required
Currently ACTIVE voter status
How to use this report The Strong Republicans file can be used as a deduplication check: if a voter appears on both a walk list and this file, remove them from the walk universe. It can also be cross-referenced with the Precinct Summary’s Strong Republican count by precinct.
Reports
Files Produced from This Data
Report 1 — VT1, VT2, FO1

High Priority Walk Lists by Precinct

All voters scoring Soft R High or Independent High. Sorted by precinct then street address for door-knocking efficiency. Includes sortable Soft_R_Category and Independent_Category columns to isolate each group.

WalkList_HighPriority.csv
Report 2 — VT4

Dropoff Voter Report

Voters with a Dropout Flag set (most recent general before 2024). Sorted by last election voted, then precinct. Includes full primary and general vote history.

Dropoff_Voters.csv
Report 3 — FO3

Household Mailing List

One row per household. Best score in household shown. Direct mail universe for county-wide outreach.

MailingList.csv
Report 4 — GI1

Precinct Summary

All precincts ranked by High Priority total. Includes turnout history 2012–2024, party breakdown, and score counts per precinct.

Precinct_Summary.csv
Report 5 — VT3, UR2, GI2, FI2

Welcome Wagon

Properties sold since 2022 with no active registered voter. Includes auditor owner name and sale price. Mapped to four documented use cases: new-neighbor outreach, registration targeting, development hotspot mapping, and fundraising. Sort by LAST_SALE_PRICE for the fundraising use.

Welcome_Wagon.csv
Report 6 — UR1, UR4

Unregistered Households

Confirmed residential addresses with no registered voter on file. Sorted by precinct. Use for canvassing and voter registration drive planning.

Unregistered.csv
Report 7 — VT5

Young Voters

Registered voters aged 18–30 (born 1996–2008). Includes vote history, scores, and voter status.

YoungVoters.csv
Report 8 — VT6 · Updated monthly

Registered but Never Voted

Active and confirmation-status voters who have no recorded participation in any primary or general election. Sorted by registration date descending — most recent registrants first. Refresh from voter file each month throughout the campaign cycle.

NewRegistrants.csv
Report 9 — GI3

Strong Republicans

Voters who pulled R in the 2024 and 2022 primaries, never pulled D, and voted in 3 of 4 recent generals. Used to identify opposition-heavy precincts and to deduplicate from the walk universe.

StrongRepublicans.csv
Future Deliverables
FO4

Precinct-Level Turnout Map

Visual map of target-voter turnout by precinct, showing where high-priority voters are concentrated.

⚙ Development in progress
GI4

School District Overlay

Voter file annotated with school district assignment. Enables issue-based targeting for levy voters and school board crossover audiences.

⚙ Development in progress