What We're About

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VotingSmarter
Mobile App Privacy Policy

Last modified: July 15th, 2020

Introduction

VotingSmarter, a Delaware corporation (“VotingSmarter” or “We”), respects your privacy and is committed to protecting it through our compliance with this policy. This policy describes:

• The types of information we may collect or that you may provide when you download, install, register with, access, or use the VotingSmarter App (the “App”).
• Our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information.

This policy applies to information you provide to us through the App, information we collect through the App, information you permit us to use and publicly available voter information.

This policy DOES NOT apply to information that you provide to or is collected by any third party.

Third parties may have their own privacy policies, which we encourage you to read before providing information to or through them.

Please read this policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, do not download, register with, or use this App. By downloading, registering with, or using this App, you agree to this privacy policy. This policy may change from time to time. Your continued use of this App after we revise this policy means you accept those changes, so please check this policy periodically for updates.

Children Under the Age of 18

The App is not intended for children under 18 years of age, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 18. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 18 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 18, please contact us at Support@votingsmarter.org .

Information We Collect and How We Collect It

We collect information from and about users of our App:

• Directly from you when you provide it to us;
• from you with your consent and permission;
• automatically when you use the App; and
• from publicly available voter records.

Information You Provide to Us 

When you download, register with, or use this App, we may ask you provide information:

• By which you may be personally identified, such as but not limited to your name, postal address, email address, or telephone number (“Personal Information”).
• That is about you but individually does not identify you, such as but not limited to your responses to surveys, questionnaires, and political candidate rankings available through the App.

This information includes:

• Information that you provide by filling in forms in the App, such as when you create a log-in account.
• Information you provide when you respond to a survey, answer questionnaires, rank political candidates, etc. and when you report a problem with the App.
• Records and copies of your correspondence, including email addresses and phone numbers, if you contact us.
• Records and copies of correspondence you send through the App.
• Your search queries on the App.

You may also provide information for publication or display (“Posted”) on the App (collectively, “User Contributions”). Your User Contributions are Posted and transmitted to others at your own risk. Although you may set certain privacy settings for such information by logging into your account profile, please be aware that no security measures are perfect or impenetrable. Additionally, we cannot control the actions of third parties with whom you may choose to share your User Contributions. Therefore, we cannot and do not guarantee that your User Contributions will not be viewed by unauthorized persons.

Information You Permit Us to Collect

We will ask for your permission to collect or use certain data from your mobile device or third parties  including:

• your mobile device contacts;
• geolocation information;
• photographs; and
• information we receive when you choose to create a federated log-in using Facebook, Google or others.

You may choose whether to grant the App access to this information. You may opt out of sharing your contacts, geolocation information, or photos by selecting “No” when prompted by your mobile device or through your mobile device settings. You may opt out of sharing information through a federated log-in by creating your own log-in account.

Note, however, that opting out of the App’s collection of your contacts, geolocation information, and photographs will cause features associated with that information to be not fully functional or disabled.

Automatic Information Collection

When you download, access, and use the App, it may use technology to automatically collect:

• Usage Details. When you access and use the App, we may automatically collect certain details of your access to and use of the App, including traffic data, logs, and other communication data and the resources that you access and use on or through the App.
• Device Information. We may collect information about your mobile device and internet connection, including the device’s unique device identifier, operating system, browser type, mobile network information, and the device’s telephone number.
• Location Information. Once you enable the app to access your geolocation information, the App may collect real-time information about the location of your device. This will enable you to check into events you attend via geofence and will enable you to access canvassing features of the app.

If you do not want us to collect this information, do not download the App or, if you have already downloaded the App, delete it from your device.

The technologies we use for automatic information collection may include but is not restricted to:

• Cookies (or mobile cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on your smartphone. It may be possible to refuse to accept mobile cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your smartphone. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our App.
• Web Beacons. Pages of the App and our emails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit VotingSmarter, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related app statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain app content and verifying system and server integrity).

Information We Collect From Publicly Available Voter Records

Voter registration lists and files are available to the public. We have acquired publicly available voter records (“Public Voter Records”) and organized that information. We have chosen to protect our users’ privacy by not including all information from Public Voter Records in the voter information accessible on the App. When you use the app or create a log-in account, you may match your log-in to your voter information available on the app (“VotingSmarter Voter File”), which includes, among others:

• your name;
• your gender;
• your age range;
• voter registration date;
• elections in which you voted; and
• political party affiliation.

You may choose not to associate your log-in with your VotingSmarter Voter File. However, doing so will cause features associated with that information to be unavailable.

How We Use Your Information

We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any personal information, to:

• Provide you with the App and its contents, and any other information, products or services that you request from us.
• Notify you when App updates are available, and of changes to any products or services we offer or provide though it.
• To develop analytics about our users in the aggregate.
• Fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it.

The usage information we collect helps us to improve our App and to deliver a better and more personalized experience by enabling us to:

• Estimate our audience size and usage patterns.
• Store information about your preferences, allowing us to customize our App according to your individual interests.
• Speed up your searches.
• Recognize you when you use the App.

We use your contacts to enable you to invite friends to check out the App and engage with them regarding the App. We will not provide them to any third party for advertising or any purpose unrelated to the App. If you provide access to your contacts and initiate a text message to one or more of your contacts, you represent and warrant that each of those individuals has expressly consented to receive such message from you and to receive them from you through the App.

Disclosure of Your Information

We may disclose aggregated information and analytics about our user populations without restriction. When we do this, we won’t share your personal information. Aggregated information and analytics about our users will never be traceable to you individually.

In addition, we may disclose personal information that we collect or you provide:

• To contractors, service providers, and other third parties we use to support our business and who are bound by contractual obligations to keep personal information confidential and use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them.
• To a buyer or other successor in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of VotingSmarter’s assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which personal information held by VotingSmarter about our App users is among the assets transferred.
• To fulfill the purpose for which you provide it. For example, if you give us an email address or phone number to contact an individual through the App, we will transmit the contents of that email or text message and your email address or phone number to the recipients.
• For any other purpose disclosed by us when you provide the information.
• With your consent.
• To comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including to respond to any government or regulatory request.
• To enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including the End User License Agreement.
• If we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of VotingSmarter, our customers or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

Your Choices About Our Collection, Use, and Disclosure of Your Information

We strive to provide you with choices regarding the personal information you provide to us. This section describes mechanisms we provide for you to control certain uses and disclosures of your information.

• Tracking Technologies. If you disable or block the use of other tracking technologies, some parts of the App may then be inaccessible or not function properly.
• Location Information. You can choose whether or not to allow the App to collect and use information about your device’s location through the device’s privacy settings. If you block the use of location information, some parts of the App may then be inaccessible or not function properly.
• Promotion by VotingSmarter. We will not use your email address or phone number to promote our own or third parties’ products or services, except to occasionally provide you an update on app usage by you and the VotingSmarter community. If you do not want us to use your email address or phone number for these purposes, you can opt-out by logging into the App and adjusting your user preferences in your account profile.

Accessing and Correcting Your Personal Information

You can review and change your personal information by logging into the App and visiting your account profile page.

You may also send us an email at Support@votingsmarter.org to request access to, correct, or delete any personal information that you have provided to us. We cannot delete your personal information except by also deleting your user account. We may not accommodate a request to change information if we believe the change would violate any law or legal requirement or cause the information to be incorrect.

Your California Privacy Rights

If you are a California resident, California law may provide you with additional rights regarding our use of your personal information.

In particular California permits users of our App that are California residents to request, once each calendar year, information regarding the categories of personal information disclosed to third parties for their direct marketing purposes, if any. VotingSmarter does not disclose personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. However, to make such a request, please send an email to Support@votingsmarter.org.

Data Security

We have implemented measures designed to secure your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure. All information you provide to us is stored on secure servers and is encrypted in-transit.

The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of our App, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone. We urge you to be careful about giving out information in public areas of the App and in the messages you may send through the App. The information you share in public areas may be viewed by any user of the App.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet and mobile platforms is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information transmitted through our App. Any transmission of personal information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures we provide.

Changes to Our Privacy Policy

We may update our privacy policy from time to time. If we make retroactive or material changes to how we treat our users’ personal information, we will post the new privacy policy on this page with a notice that the privacy policy has been updated and notify you by an in-App alert the first time you use the App after we make the change.

The date the privacy policy was last revised is identified at the top of the page. If we make retroactive and material changes to how we treat our users’ personal information, we may contact you in other ways as required by law.  You are responsible for ensuring we have an up-to-date active and deliverable email address and/or phone number for you and for periodically visiting this privacy policy to check for any changes.

Contact Information

To ask questions or comment about this privacy policy and our privacy practices, contact us at: Support@votingsmarter.org