VIP 5.2: Our latest data specification
Did you know that VIP has its own standard data format? The VIP Specification makes data interoperable across platforms and applications. Ultimately, it allows data to be more easily disseminated to voters.
In 2020, our team released the 5.2 Specification to enhance the usability and features of the VIP 5 data standard. But as it turned out, 2020 was a pretty busy year for election offices! So we’re following up this year to help our partners upgrade to 5.2.
Benefits of the 5.2 Specification
VIP 5.2 allows election offices to:
Highlight critical information for a specific election via the Election Notice custom text field. This field can also include a URL.
Submit structured address information for polling locations, which can increase the accuracy of geocoding for voting locations.
How to upgrade
Upgrading from VIP 5.1 to VIP 5.2 takes one step. Simply update the Source element’s Version tag to 5.2. All features from VIP 5.1 are still supported, so no other updates are required.
We can help you upgrade from VIP 3.0 or another data format as well! Election offices and Election Management System vendors can contact us with any questions.
Visit our GitHub Repo or take a look at our XML and CSV Documentation for more information.
VIP continues to support past versions 5.1 and 3.0.