Per Minnesota state law, campaigns must be allowed to enter apartment buildings to canvass, provided that they have a candidate with them.
This takes advanced planning and coordination with candidates and landlords, but is well worth the chance to meet with apartment voters.
VAN may leave out apartment voters in Turf Cutter, because not all folks with apartment addresses have latitudes and longitudes appended to their records. To use VAN to knock a specific apartment building, follow the process below.
Before cutting turf, make sure you have made arrangements with the landlord and the candidate to make sure you can get in the building. To cut the turf, you will need the building's address.
1. We need to know the precinct of the building in order to cut the proper turf. If you don't know what precinct the building is in, enter the building's address into the Secretary of State's pollfinder: https://pollfinder.sos.mn.gov/Default.aspx
You will be able to view the precinct on the right hand side of the screen:
2. Next, go to Create A List in VAN. Using the Home Districts filter, select the county that your building is in. Then, a precinct menu will appear. Select the building's precinct (from step 1).
3. After selecting the precinct, click the blue "Street Name" filter and check the box for the street that your building is on.
4. Now, run the search. Do NOT use Turf Cutter -- send the list straight to MiniVAN by selecting the "MiniVAN" option at the top of the screen. If you don't already have one, you will need to set up a MiniVAN campaign to determine your script and contact method.
5. You can also print the list as a paper doorknock list by selecting the "Print" option at the top of the My List screen. As long as you select a MiniVAN campaign when you print the list, you will be able to input the list number that is printed on the paper list into MiniVAN. To find the list number on the printed list, go to the first page of data right after the map. The list number will be in the bottom left corner:
6. In MiniVAN, do NOT use the map to find your next door. Using the household list, select the apartment building you are planning to canvas, and proceed to use MiniVAN as usual.
It's great practice to bring voter registration forms with you to knock an apartment building, since you are more likely to encounter folks who are not registered to vote.