The Ballot Brief ("we," "our," or "us") operates theballotbrief.com (the "Service"). This Privacy Policy explains what information is collected when you visit, how it is used, who it is shared with, and the choices you have.
1. Your Ballot Lookups Stay Private
Location and address data: When you use our lookup tools and enter a ZIP code or street address to see your ballot, that input is processed in real time solely to match you to your districts and races. We do not store, log, or retain the addresses or ZIP codes you enter, we do not use them to build any profile of you, and we never share them with advertising partners. We also scrub street addresses from the page web address so they are not visible to the third-party services described below.
Personal information: Our core services require no account, name, email address, or phone number, and we do not collect them.
2. Analytics and Site Measurement
We use third-party analytics services to understand how the site is used and to fix problems. These services set cookies or similar technologies and automatically receive information such as your IP address, browser and device type, the pages you visit, and how you interact with them:
Google Analytics measures traffic and usage patterns. You can learn more at Google's privacy policy or opt out with the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.
Microsoft Clarity helps us understand how visitors interact with pages, including through heatmaps and session replays of clicks, scrolls, and page movement. Text you type into the lookup forms is not part of what we review. Learn more at Microsoft's privacy statement.
3. Advertising
To keep the Service free, we display advertising. Our advertising partners include Google AdSense and, through the OpenX advertising exchange, other participants in the programmatic advertising ecosystem. When an ad is requested, these partners and their bidders may receive and process information such as your IP address, cookie or device identifiers, browser and device information, the page you are viewing (without any lookup input), and a general, non-precise location inferred from your IP address, such as your state or metro area. These partners may set and read cookies, may sync cookies or similar identifiers with one another, and may use this information to select and measure ads, including ads tailored to your interests. Under some United States state privacy laws, this kind of disclosure may be considered a "sale" of personal information or "sharing" for targeted advertising.
We never send advertising partners your name, email address, the addresses or ZIP codes you enter into our lookup tools, or your precise location, and we do not target advertising based on the political content you view.
Advertising on the Service is served to visitors in the United States only.
You can learn about interest-based advertising and opt out of participating companies through the Digital Advertising Alliance at optout.aboutads.info, the Network Advertising Initiative at optout.networkadvertising.org, and OpenX's Ad Exchange privacy policy and opt-out portal.
4. Your Privacy Choices
Global Privacy Control: We honor the Global Privacy Control (GPC) browser signal. If your browser sends GPC, we treat it as an opt-out of the sale or sharing of your personal information for targeted advertising, and no programmatic advertising requests are made for your visit.
Cookies: You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings at any time; the Service works without them.
State privacy rights: Depending on where you live, you may have rights to know, access, correct, or delete personal information, and to opt out of its sale or sharing. Because we do not maintain accounts or stored profiles of visitors, we hold little or no information that can be linked to you, but you may contact us at [email protected] with any privacy request and we will respond as required by applicable law.
5. Children
The Service is intended for general audiences and is not directed to children. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18, and we do not permit advertising on the Service to be targeted to minors.
6. Third-Party Links
The Service links out to official candidate websites, government election offices, and public databases. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content or privacy practices of any third-party site.
7. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, including as our advertising partners change. Updates will be posted on this page with a new "Last Updated" date.
8. Contact
Questions about this policy or your information can be sent to [email protected].