Address management troubles often plague local political campaigns

For any organization that relies on collecting contact information from consumers, it's important to have reliable address management solutions in place. That's especially relevant for political campaigns - not only do they run the risk of delivering faulty messages to potential supporters, but they could also encounter legal trouble.

Examples of complaints about politicians' petitioning are cropping up all the time. Most recently, one such story emerged in Bridgeport, Conn. According to the Connecticut Post, the state is investigating the town clerk's office in Bridgeport because a City Council candidate, Richard DeJesus, had some irregularities in the data he used to gather support for his bid.

DeJesus won his Sept. 10 primary and the November general election before being sworn in in December. But questions persist - DeJesus is under investigation by the State Elections Enforcement Commission for allegedly campaigning and voting with invalid voter addresses. That complaint was filed by his opponents in the September primary, Angel dePara and Carlos Silva.

"There exists what appear to be substantial legitimate concerns as to whether there may have occurred violations of state law," Bridgeport City Attorney Mark Anastasi stated, according to the Post.

This is another illustration of the need for complete, accurate data on citizens. While retail stores rely on data quality for delivering marketing messages and making sales, political campaigns also need accurate knowledge. It can help them build support for candidates and win elections. If their data doesn't meet a high standard of quality, then political parties run the risk of getting their high-profile public figures into trouble.

Address management software can help eliminate imperfections in data clusters by verifying each element. If anything is misspelled, outdated or simply dishonest, politicans need to know, just as retailers do. Data quality can make the difference between political success and ugly scandal.