.. This file is auto-generated.  Do not edit it by hand!

.. _multi-xml-external-identifiers:

ExternalIdentifiers
===================

The ``ExternalIdentifiers`` element allows VIP data to connect with external datasets (e.g.
candidates with campaign finance datasets, electoral geographies with `OCD-IDs`_ that allow for
greater connectivity with additional datasets, etc...). Examples for ``ExternalIdentifiers`` can be
found on the objects that support them:

* :ref:`multi-xml-candidate`

* Any element that extends :ref:`multi-xml-contest-base`

* :ref:`multi-xml-electoral-district`

* :ref:`multi-xml-locality`

* :ref:`multi-xml-office`

* :ref:`multi-xml-party`

* :ref:`multi-xml-precinct`

* :ref:`multi-xml-state`

.. _OCD-IDs: http://opencivicdata.readthedocs.org/en/latest/ocdids.html

+--------------------+--------------------------------------+--------------+--------------+------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------+
| Tag                | Data Type                            | Required?    | Repeats?     | Description                              | Error Handling                           |
+====================+======================================+==============+==============+==========================================+==========================================+
| ExternalIdentifier | :ref:`multi-xml-external-identifier` | **Required** | Repeats      | Defines the identifier and the type of   | At least one valid `ExternalIdentifier`_ |
|                    |                                      |              |              | identifier it is (see                    | must be present for                      |
|                    |                                      |              |              | `ExternalIdentifier`_ for complete       | ``ExternalIdentifiers`` to be valid. If  |
|                    |                                      |              |              | information).                            | no valid `ExternalIdentifier`_ is        |
|                    |                                      |              |              |                                          | present, the implementation is required  |
|                    |                                      |              |              |                                          | to ignore the ``ExternalIdentifiers``    |
|                    |                                      |              |              |                                          | element.                                 |
+--------------------+--------------------------------------+--------------+--------------+------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------+