MiniVAN


What is the MiniVAN?

MiniVAN is a mobile extension of the desktop VAN, designed for making paperless canvassing simple and easy. Importantly, MiniVAN and VAN are separate platforms and intended for separate purposes, which are detailed below. MiniVAN is available on both Apple and Android phones and is available for download on both the App Store and Google Play Store for free. 


Before using MiniVAN, please be sure to read all the way to the end of this document to familiarize yourself with MiniVAN Commit. If you do not, you risk the permanent loss of all data recorded using MiniVAN. 


How do I get trained on the MiniVAN?

The best resource for training is actually produced by NGP VAN. You can download it here: The Official MiniVANual.


What should I (and shouldn't I) use the MiniVAN for?

  • MiniVAN is good for:
    • In-person canvassing and literature dropping 
    • Quickly adding Survey Responses or Canvass Results for individual voters
  • MiniVAN is ill-equipped to handle:
    • Phonebanking and texting
    • Event management
    • Planning or preparing for voter contact


Using MiniVAN for Canvassing

Building a new list is the first step for nearly any activity in VAN. We have a separate guide to building lists, but the most important criteria for MiniVAN are Targets, Scores, and Home Districts. Using just these three, you should be able to build comprehensive lists of the highest priority voters in specific precincts and neighborhoods. 


Sending lists to MiniVAN

  • Once you've built a list and are on the My List screen, you'll want to select "Cut Turf" from the list of options towards the top of the page. 

  • From the Cut Turf page, you can either click the top left to create turf automatically or manually drop pins. Be sure you’ve dropped all pins to finish a turf; once a turf is completed, it will change from grey to a color. Each of these turfs will become a list for MiniVAN, so be sure to only create turfs that canvassers are able to reasonably take on. For instance, a single turf with hundreds of voters will probably not be feasible. Here are some examples:


  • Once you're done creating your turfs, you'll need to hit "Save & Finish" in the top right. Then, you'll need to designate a folder to place your turfs. Please make sure to either select or create a folder with a name you'll remember; these lists are easy to lose track of! 
  • However, you're not quite done yet. At this point, the turfs themselves have been created. The mechanism that used to download lists from VAN is called a "List Number," a single-use code for bringing your turf over to MiniVAN. Before we proceed, a couple of important List Number details.
    • List numbers expire after 30 days. We recommend regenerating them after only 7 days.
    • Once a list is downloaded, any canvassing data completed on MiniVAN will stay visible for up to 7 days.
    • Multiple users can download the same list and canvass that data, but we do not recommend doing so except for canvasses done on a single day at a single time. Downloading the same list multiple times across multiple MiniVAN instances can cause a number of issues and confuse canvassers.
  •  To actually generate List Numbers to send lists to VAN, you'll need to navigate to My Folders, then open the folder you saved your turfs into. Then, you'll be able to click the checkboxes to the left of the turfs you need to generate, then towards the top left, select Quick Actions and Generate List Number, as shown below:



  • You've now generated your list numbers! 


MiniVAN Commit

To ensure that all data recorded using MiniVAN is quality, VAN places a "stopgap" between when MiniVAN data is synced via the mobile application and when the data is actually recorded in the desktop version of VAN. To clarify, after completing a list on MiniVAN and syncing my data, there is still a step required on the desktop version of VAN before that data is visible in VAN itself. The process of pushing data from MiniVAN to VAN is called "committing."

MiniVAN data that is not committed after 21 days will be lost. There are no exceptions to this, and this rule is set by NGP VAN, not the Texas Democratic Party. Recovering lost data can be a difficult, if not impossible, process. We recommend MiniVAN Commit is checked by the Field Director/Campaign Manager or whomever is in charge of VAN at least once daily.


  • To commit your data, navigate to the MiniVAN Commit page in the desktop version of VAN. It is under the "Organizing" section on the lefthand menu, or under MiniVAN on the Main Menu. 



  • All synced MiniVAN data that has not already been committed will be found here. To commit data, select the check box by the list you want to commit, then click "Commit" in the top right.


  • Once this is completed, the lists will be available in VAN.