Preventing and Resolving Duplicates (Dupes)
There are times when a single individual has mistakenly been entered as multiple, distinct people in our database, resulting in multiple CANDIDATE_ID NUMBERS. This means that this individual has a duplicate profile. When you create a duplicate, you effectively erase that individual's entire history which would of course be useful to voters. Sometimes you may come across them in the course of your regular work.
Preventing Dupes
- Before adding a new candidate or official, always check to see if we already have someone by that name in the system
- Only search by last name, never by first name. Limit it by state if it is a common name.
- While rare, it is possible that the candidate was in a different state in the previous years. If you see a candidate with the same name but in a different state, double check to make sure that the candidate is not a dupe.
- When looking at your search results, make sure to check for variations on the first name, including popular nicknames.
- If you find someone with the same or similar name that you think might be the same person you MUST verify that it is the same person. Google searches can help you with this. If you cannot confirm that these are the same people, add a new person to the database. Combining two people that are not the same person is far more difficult to find and resolve than a dupe, so don't do it!
- Try to differentiate between siblings and parents–check to see if addresses are the same and pay close attention to suffixes.
- Watch out for: hyphenated names and two last names. Sometimes a name is hyphenated and sometimes the maiden name is listed in the first name, middle name, or last name field. When faced with a hyphenated name or two last names (for example, Velez-Gentry), your best bet is to do multiple searches: one for the maiden name (Velez), one for just the last name (Gentry), one for the hyphenated name (Velez-Gentry), and one for both names separated by a space (Velez Gentry)
Spotting a Potential Dupe
You are facing a possible dupe if two or more ID#s have:
- Same last name and first name
- Same last name and similar first name (ex.: John and Jonathan, Greg and Gregory, Anne and Ann)
- Same last name and a first name that could match a nickname (ex.: Jack and Jonathan, Margaret and Meg)
- Same Last name and same initials for both Middle and First Names (ex: RJ Adams-Robert J Adams OR Matthew J Smith and Matthew Smith)
- Also look for the misspelling of names (ex: Mathew J. Smith and Matthew J. Smith)
Figure Out Whether or Not It is Actually a Dupe
This may require some research. If their profiles do not clearly link them together as the same person, try Google searches to see if you can connect the two. Be very careful with common names, and with Fathers and Sons or other relatives with the same name.
Resolve the Dupe
If you've determined that two candidateIDs are actually the same person, combine the two's biographical information onto one of the ID #s bio page (typically this is easier to move to the profile that has the most biographical information already). When you combine the two bios, put all information in proper chronological order and fix other formatting. Be careful not to have duplicate information on there. Also add any contact or election/office information, as well as anything in the contact logs tab. In all, make sure everything from the duplicate is correctly added to the original. Add all duplicate candidates to this tracking sheet: Duplicate Candidates (go to check list #3, or create a new check if your Director approves it).
Note: Be sure that any duplicate candidates do not have multiple entries for the same election or else the merge will be disrupted.
