Action Network

Connect Action Network to keep your members synced into Talvo, then add them to a voter roll without uploading a spreadsheet.

Before you start

• Member import must be switched on for your organisation. If you can't see Integrations in Settings, get in touch and we'll switch it on.
• You need to be an administrator in your Talvo organisation to connect Action Network. Election managers can add synced members to a voter roll once it's connected.
• You need an Action Network API key. API keys are only available to paid or partner groups. In Action Network, go to Start Organizing, then Details, then API & Sync.

Connect Action Network

1. In Talvo, go to Settings, then Integrations.
2. Paste your key into Action Network API key.
3. Select Connect Action Network.

Talvo tests the key before saving anything. If the key is refused, nothing is stored.

Choose who to import

Action Network doesn't mark people as members, and most lists hold supporters as well as members. If you import everyone, you may put people on a ballot who aren't entitled to vote.

If your list records membership in a custom field (for example, Membership_Status), use it to import members only:

1. Under Who to import, select Change who to import.
2. In Only import people by, choose the field. Leave it as Everyone on the list to import everyone.
3. Choose the values to import, for example Current.
4. Optionally, choose a field in Group members by, such as Membership_Type. This lets you put only some groups on a voter roll later.
5. Decide whether to tick Include members who have opted out of emails. This is off by default. Election invitations are usually service emails rather than marketing, but members who opted out may not expect them.
6. Select Save choices.

Talvo only offers fields whose values repeat across your list, so fields like phone numbers won't appear.

Sync your members

• Select Preview to see what a sync would do. Nothing is saved.
• Select Sync now to import your members. You can leave the page: the sync carries on in the background. If you stay on the page and it pauses, select Carry on syncing.

A list of 10,000 people takes about five minutes. After that, Talvo syncs once a day by itself.

Sync history shows each sync and what happened. If some people couldn't be imported, you can download a list of their Action Network IDs and the reason.

Add members to a voter roll

1. Open a draft election, or one in review, and go to the Voters tab.
2. Find Add members from Action Network / CiviCRM.
3. To add only some members, choose them under Only these groups. Leave it empty to add everyone.
4. Select Add all Action Network members to the roll, or Add groups to the roll.

What a sync does

What you see	What it means
New	The person wasn't in Talvo yet.
Updated	Something about them changed, such as their email address.
Not included	They're outside the people you chose to import, or their email is bouncing.
Opted out of emails	They opted out of emails, and you haven't chosen to include them.
Erased at their request	They asked to be erased from Talvo. They are never imported.
Email already used	Another member already has this email address. Fix the duplicate in Action Network.

People who leave your list, or no longer match your choices, are archived rather than deleted, and are left off new voter rolls. If they come back, so do they.

If a sync finds nobody at all, Talvo doesn't archive anyone. This usually means the API key has changed.

Change the API key or disconnect

• To use a new key, select Change the API key, paste it, then select Save new key.
• To check the connection, select Test connection.
• To stop syncing, select Disconnect Action Network. Talvo deletes the API key, the sync history and the members it imported. Voter rolls you've already built are not changed.

Your data

Talvo only keeps each member's name, email address, group and Action Network ID. Everything else is dropped before it's stored. Your API key is encrypted, and disconnecting deletes it.