The National Voter List Management Cooperative (the Coop) was created in 2012 to help state parties monetize their voter files. By pooling non-proprietary voter file data to create a unified base file, the Coop prevents costly redundancies and generates revenue for state parties. Members of the Coop include 49 Democratic State Committees and the DNC – all admitted under the Coop’s bylaws.

TargetSmart serves as the Coop’s exclusive broker, selling access to the base file to progressive allies within the boundaries governed by the Coop. TargetSmart is responsible for the costs of sales, marketing, and payment collection. They also support the software and data infrastructure that brings Coop data to market.

Coop data is raw voter file data collected from the Secretaries of State in each state; it does not include any unique state party data. Both the Coop file and the state party file start the same way- your state party collects voter file lists from election officials, and the DNC and TargetSmart consolidate those lists. After consolidation, commercially available phone numbers and change of address updates are appended to the file. From there, the two files diverge:

• Coop File: Sent to TargetSmart for further processing and enhancement, then loaded into various applications and data products for sale.
• Party File: Combined with your state party’s rich file, proprietary historic data and analytics, then made available to campaigns through VoteBuilder & Phoenix.

The Coop file is updated hundreds of times a year, more than any competitor in the voter file market.

Coop members receive quarterly ACH transfers reflecting the actual number of records sold in their state. All expenditures must be ratified by the Coop board. Of the revenue generated by TargetSmart, 8% is retained for Coop administration (bookkeeping, legal, financial, report filing, etc.) and 4% goes to the DNC. The ASDC receives none of the Coop’s funds.

Since the Coop’s inception, it has disbursed over $11 million in transfers to members.

Beyond direct data sales, your state parties benefit when:

• Candidates and Coop clients purchase access to enhanced data sold through TargetSmart.
• Progressive organizations in your state- labor unions, C4s, PACs, and ballot/constitutional amendment campaigns use Coop data for their outreach efforts. You can connect any interested organizations to TargetSmart at sales@targetsmart.com to discuss their Coop data usage further.

TargetSmart also provides state parties, at no additional cost:

• ListBuilder & SmartMatch, reach out to support@targetsmart.com to have your Voter File Manager granted access.

TargetSmart’s Coop enhanced file is the most current voter file data on the market, since the Coop collects updates in every state throughout the year- not on a fixed cycle. Our allies and partners should be all working from the same up to date information our campaigns and candidates are using.

It is also the only major file that returns revenue to the state parties: every purchase from mission aligned organizations generates royalties back to the relevant state. TargetSmart works exclusively with progressive causes and does not sell to GOP or right leaning organizations, and the file includes industry leading consumer data, models/scores, and contact data.

• Media Buying Platform– In 2024 TargetSmart launched the first and only Demand Side Platform built for Democrats, by Democrats. This powerful tool allows Democratic State Parties, campaigns, and allied organizations to place programmatic media buys using the TargetSmart and Coop Voter Files. The MBP has cut out several layers of corporate ad tech fees which allows more of your budget to be used to reach voters. State Parties can also take advantage of discounted rates for placing media buys.
• SmartVAN– access to TargetSmart data within the NGPVAN organizing platform for canvassing, virtual phone banks, and other voter outreach.
• ListBuilder– full national voter file access for counts and queries, as well as downloadable phone and mail lists. ListBuilder also seamlessly integrates with the Media Buying Platform for digital audience creation and deployment.
• SmartMatch– upload your membership, fundraising, or activist lists to append voter file and contact data, as well as send your lists to the Media Buying Platform.
• Polling & Research Solutions– in house polling, poll sample data, and survey research support.
• Modeling & Analytics– custom models and scores built with voter file, consumer, and survey collected data.
• Digital Audiences – voter file and consumer data matched to digital audiences for campaign targeting and custom audience creation on social media platforms and other platforms.

Coop President – Jane Kleeb

Coop Treasurer – Ann Fishman

• Annfishman48@gmail.com

Coop Senior Advisor – Joe Barbuto

• Joe@scdp.org

Coop Legal Counsel – Joe Sandler

• Sandler@sandlerreiff.com

TargetSmart Contact – Sean Doyle

• sean.doyle@targetsmart.com / sales@targetsmart.com