Getting Started
GOTV VAN sync is a distinct sync mode built for Get Out The Vote campaigns, used when a state party or coordinated campaign needs to recruit volunteers across many staging locations at once. Instead of each Mobilize event syncing to its own VAN event, every Mobilize event created within a GOTV campaign represents one location, and all of them feed into a single VAN "Statewide" event per day, with Mobilize event types mapping to VAN roles rather than VAN event types.
Before you begin: This feature has several nuances that differ from Mobilize's standard VAN sync. We strongly recommend:
Training staff on this specific workflow before granting access.
Limiting admin/organizer access to a small, trained group responsible for creating and duplicating GOTV events.
Reviewing the full guide below before creating your first event, especially the DOs and DON'Ts section.
Configure GOTV Locations
Overview:
Step 1. Create an Event Campaign in Mobilize
Step 2. Setup Advanced VAN Settings for your event campaign form, which will map all events submitted through the form as a new location and all signups to the events as a role
Step 3. Create the first event in your new Event Campaign that will create the basis of varying locations in your statewide VAN event
Step 4: Duplicate the event for all of your locations and roles
Step 1. Create an Event Campaign in Mobilize
The event campaign will sync your VAN committee as a new statewide event. Once you’ve completed steps 1 & 2, you’ll submit events into the new Event Campaign, and they will sync as new locations in the statewide VAN event.
Event Campaign Configuration by field
Form title
Form description
The form description will appear at the top of the Event Campaign form. Use this section for any instructions you want to include for staff submitting GOTV events through your Event Campaign.
Who can find this event campaign and submit events?
Select 'Anyone with the link'
Who can approve events?
Select 'No approval needed'
Instructions and support
Include any email address in the required contact field and leave the Instructions field blank
Event defaults
Event types you wish to have in this statewide GOTV event. You’ll map these event types so that signups to these events sync to the statewide event with a distinct role in VAN
A default event name & event description
Up to 6 default event images
Date and time settings
Select a date range and check the box below Multiple times
Step 2. Configure Advanced VAN Settings
Open the Advanced VAN Settings drop-down
Add the VAN event name
Select all of the VAN event types you want this event to map to. Be sure the VAN event type in VAN has "Can have multiple locations" checked off.
Select the Timezone
This should match the timezone for your VAN Committee.
Select the VAN Statuses that Registered, Cancelled, and Confirmed shifts will map to in VAN (these statuses must be statuses available on the VAN event type you use for GOTV)
Set the VAN Roles for hosts and attendees for your event types
⚠️ For the Host VAN role, select Don’t sync. Duplicate events could be created if Host roles are set to sync.
Click Save
Step 3. Start adding new locations to your statewide VAN event through your new Event Campaign
Select your Event Campaign in the Event Campaign tab
Click on the Form URL at the top of the page
Create an event via the form and add the event details for your first location:
Update the Event title
Select the event type you want to create
Add a Description
Add location information:
Under Location, check ✔️ Is virtual and add the location name and details for your event.
Mobilize will search VAN for a location match and merge with an exact match. If the Mobilize location does not match any VAN locations exactly, Mobilize will create a new location in VAN.
Recommended: Add the VAN Location ID to ensure location merging. Adding the VAN Location ID will eliminate any duplicates due to slight differences (St vs. Street, etc.)
Add timeslots:
Be sure to include all of the days and times associated with the location.
Each timeslot will create a new shift in the statewide VAN event. If you add shifts across multiple days, VAN will create a new event for each day.
Add Event Logistics and Accessibility, including a contact phone number and attendee instructions (you can edit these later on as well)
Add the Zoom ID to your new event by going to the Events tab of your dashboard, selecting the event, and selecting Edit in the top right corner.
That’s it! You should now see a statewide event in VAN with your Mobilize event’s location and shift times.
Note: Events created by Admins or Organizers will go live immediately, but you can set them to Private visibility if you don’t want the event to appear on the feed immediately.
Step 4. Duplicate!
To speed up the event creation process, utilize the Duplicate event functionality to copy event information, and update the details for new locations.
Duplicate your event by going to the Events tab and selecting Duplicate event in the Actions dropdown
Update the event, including the title, event type, photo, contact information, location, Zoom links, and any other fields you want to change
Add the Zoom ID you’ll use for this location.
Repeat for all location/role combinations in your state/turf
VAN Mapping
Here is a visual representation of how Mobilize Events, Locations, and Shift Times map to the VAN multi-location (statewide) events:
Note: Mobilize events have one location per event, while VAN events have one day per event, meaning multiple Mobilize events can feed into the same VAN event. This is a departure from the typical Mobilize <> VAN sync.
Mobilize event types do not sync as VAN event types. Instead, the events sync as locations within the statewide event, and the Mobilize event type maps to a VAN role as configured in the Advanced VAN Settings.
Editing event locations and attendee information
Updating locations
Do not add any new location to the VAN event. Only update existing locations in VAN first, then in Mobilize. Never delete locations or location IDs in VAN! Deleting locations in VAN could prevent further signups from syncing.
Once the location is updated in VAN, update the address information in Mobilize
Updating attendee information
Make changes to a volunteer's role, location, or timeslot in VAN, not Mobilize.
Subsequent confirmation emails will include the updated role and shift time
In SMS confirmations, role modifications will say "taking action" in place of the event type
Messages sent out the same day as changes are made in VAN may not sync back to Mobilize in time before confirmation emails go out
DOs and DON'Ts
🟢 5 things to ALWAYS do
✅ DO use an Event Campaign to organize your GOTV events
All your GOTV events for a single program should live inside one Event Campaign in Mobilize. The Event Campaign is what connects your many Mobilize events to a single statewide VAN event. Without it, the sync doesn't work the way GOTV needs it to.
✅ DO match your timezone to your VAN committee's timezone
In your Event Campaign's Advanced VAN Settings, set the timezone to exactly match the timezone of your VAN committee. If your state spans multiple timezones (e.g. Tennessee, Florida), pick one — Mobilize will normalize the rest.
✅ DO check "Can have multiple locations" on your VAN event type
Before you set up your GOTV sync, go into VAN and confirm the event type you plan to use has the "can have multiple locations" option enabled. If it doesn't, the sync will throw errors as soon as you create your second location.
✅ DO use VAN Location IDs from the start
If your staging locations are still being finalized (addresses TBD), create the VAN locations first and link them to Mobilize using the VAN Location ID. Update the address in VAN once it's finalized, then in Mobilize. This prevents the "duplicate location" problem that comes from address-text mismatches.
✅ DO contact Mobilize Support before making major changes during peak GOTV
The week before Election Day is the wrong moment to discover a problem. If you need to add locations, change roles, or restructure your event campaign during the final 2-3 weeks, ping Mobilize Support first. We'd rather walk you through it than untangle it afterward.
🔴 6 things to NEVER do
❌ NEVER delete a location in VAN
If a staging location is no longer in use, do not delete it from VAN. Deleting it will silently break the sync for any future signups going to that location. If you need to retire a location, contact Mobilize Support — we'll help you do it the safe way.
❌ NEVER delete a shift in VAN
Same rule as locations. If a shift was created by Mobilize and you delete it directly in VAN, the next sync from Mobilize will throw an error and stop syncing signups to that shift. Cancel the shift in Mobilize first if it should go away.
❌ NEVER add a new location directly to a VAN statewide event
The VAN statewide event's locations should only be created by Mobilize syncing new events into the campaign. Adding a location manually in VAN bypasses the sync and creates orphaned data.
❌ NEVER edit a volunteer's role, location, or timeslot in Mobilize after they've signed up
For attendee changes, edit in VAN, not Mobilize. Mobilize won't push the change back to VAN — VAN is authoritative for attendee assignments once they exist.
❌ NEVER edit an event's title, description, type, or timeslot times in VAN
The opposite rule from #4. For event metadata (title, description, type, times), edit in Mobilize, not VAN. Edits made in VAN will be overwritten the next time Mobilize syncs.
❌ NEVER grant edit/delete permissions to your VAN dashboard broadly
The single biggest GOTV breakage in 2024 was caused by an org having 400+ users with delete-event permissions on the VAN side. One person clicks the wrong button → thousands of signups go missing. Audit your VAN permissions before peak season and limit delete-event access to the smallest possible group.
⚠️ The most common moments where things go wrong
Moment | What to watch for |
Setup | Forgot to set Host VAN Role to "Don't sync" → duplicate statewide events appear |
Address changes | Edited address in Mobilize first → VAN-direct signups get orphaned |
Adding a new staging location | Created it in VAN by hand → next sync fails with "location not recognized" |
Daylight Saving weekend | Shifts appear 1 hour off between Mobilize and VAN (this happens automatically — file a ticket if it's a problem) |
A volunteer needs to switch shifts | Changed it in Mobilize → no effect in VAN. Always edit attendee details in VAN |
Mid-cycle staffing change | New VAN admin deletes "old-looking" events → sync breaks for the live ones |
FAQs
How should I update or delete timeslot dates/times?
Make timeslot changes or deletions in Mobilize, not in VAN!
If a shift (a timeslot) is being canceled AND needs to be removed from VAN, the shift deletion must happen in Mobilize first, for all events that use that shift time. After deleting the shift in Mobilize, delete the shift from the GOTV Event in VAN.
If necessary, you can manually add canceled signups to another shift in Mobilize, which will sync to VAN during the next GOTV campaign sync. |
How do I prevent signups for a specific shift in a particular location?
A shift time can be fully disabled for a given location by deleting the timeslot in Mobilize. The shift will remain in the VAN statewide event so long as one of the events in the GOTV campaign has the shift time available.
A shift time can always be capped to prevent further signups by setting a capacity on that timeslot in Mobilize. This will not affect how the Shift times appear on the VAN events. |
How should I update locations?
Do not add any new location to the VAN event. Only update existing locations in VAN first, then in Mobilize. Never delete locations or location IDs in VAN! Deleting locations in VAN could prevent further signups from syncing. |
How should I make changes to a volunteer’s role or move them to a different location or timeslot?
Make changes to a volunteer's role, location, or timeslot in VAN, not Mobilize.
|
How will states with multiple timezones be handled?
If you have an event that is happening in a different timezone than your VAN committee is set to, you should update the shift in Mobilize to the VAN timezone and time.
Mobilize will sync the number associated with the time, regardless of the timezone associated with the VAN committee - e.g. an 8 am CT shift will sync as an 8 am shift, 9 am CT will sync as a 9 am shift, even if the VAN committee is not set to CT. |
How do GOTV events work with co-ownership?
Events created in a GOTV campaign will be shared with any co-owned feeds. Events will be synced as individual events to any promoting or co-owning organizations’ VAN committees.
If a change is made to a signup in one co-owner's VAN committee, we will treat that committee as the "source of truth" when checking for further VAN status updates for that signup. Changes made to the signup subsequently in other co-owners' VAN committees will not be reflected in Mobilize and passed to the co-owning committees. Where signups are synced to multiple VAN Committees through co-ownership, we recommend updating statuses for those signups in Mobilize or in only one of the co-owning VAN Committees to prevent updates from other co-owners being overwritten. |
When to contact Mobilize Support
Signups stopped appearing in VAN
You see a "deleted in VAN" error or warning
Your VAN event dates appear to be changing on their own
Shift times appear to be 1 hour off (especially around DST weekends)
You need to do anything unusual during the final 2-3 weeks before Election Day
You're not sure whether something is safe to change
We'd rather hear from you early than fix a bigger problem later 💙