What you get, what it costs, and what we keep, with the reason for each.
In Short
Who We Are
Our picks are our opinion, backed by public filings.
Citizens Ballot is an independent publisher of voter guides, run by a concerned citizen. We take no money from candidates, campaigns, parties or PACs, and we refund it if we find any.
We are not affiliated with any candidate or with Citizens United, the organization.
Every guide we publish is free for everyone, with no account. Each one comes as a web page, a phone version and a printable page.
A tip never changes a pick, and every reader sees the same guide.
Each pick comes with its reason and a source for every number. Nothing here is legal advice.
For deadlines, polling places and ID rules, check with your state or county election office.
Privacy
Every build ships with these rules, before you type a thing.
Fonts, scripts and images all come from our own site. Our security policy blocks requests to anyone else, so no ad network or tracker can load.
Our host counts visits and page views so we know what people read. No cookies, nothing that identifies you, and nothing that follows you from site to site.
The site sets no cookies at all.
When you open a source, like an FEC filing, that site sees only our site’s name, never the page you came from.
Every page has your camera, microphone and location switched off, so no script on it can ask for them.
A page with inline code fails to build, so these rules never have to be loosened to make a page work.
What We Keep
Where each thing lives, how long it stays, and what it does for you.
Stays in your browser unless you add your email. See Candidates asks our site for one file named after its first three digits.
How longNever saved. That file request shows up in our host’s logs, like any page you open.
What it does for youYou get only your area’s candidates, and your full ZIP code never leaves your device.
Kept by Vercel, our host: the page asked for, the time and your IP address.
How longSet by Vercel’s privacy policy.
What it does for youLets our host keep the site up and block attacks. We never use them to follow anyone.
Your email and ZIP code, plus a street address and precinct if you add them. Held in our request store (Upstash); Resend sends the emails. Street address lookups, when on, send the address once to Google’s Civic Information service.
How longAn hour if you don’t confirm. Deleted once your guides are sent or the request fails, and never kept past a day.
What it does for youWe research your exact ballot and email you the desktop, phone and print guides.
One-way codes made from your IP address and email. The codes can’t be turned back into either one.
How longAn hour for the IP code, a day for the email code.
What it does for youNo one can flood the service or send guides to someone else, so it stays free and quick for you.
A random number in your browser, with the time you asked. Never your email or address.
How longUntil 10 minutes after your guides are sent, or a day at most.
What it does for youClose the tab or refresh, and the ring by the logo still shows your progress.
Each researched ballot, saved by precinct on our research machine. It holds no email, ZIP code or address.
How longRebuilt after 7 days, deleted after 30 days unused.
What it does for youThe next voter in your precinct gets their guide right away.
What you write in Suggest a Case on The Rhetoric page, and your email if you add one. It goes to one private file we read, and it’s never posted.
How longOut of our database within a minute; kept in that file until we’ve read it.
What it does for youYour idea can become the next case we trace.
Kept by Stripe: your email, the amount, and a name for the founders list if you add one. We never see your card number.
How longWhile you’re a member. Stripe keeps payment records as the law requires.
What it does for youYour ZIP code tells us which ballot’s guide to send you before each election.
Tips
A tip is a gift for the work, and it buys nothing. Every guide, ballot email and election alert is free for everyone, whether or not they tip.
Citizens Select is a $4 monthly tip. Founding Citizen is a $20 tip, once, with an optional spot on the founders list.
Tips go to the person who builds Citizens Ballot. They aren’t a donation to a charity and aren’t tax-deductible. Stripe handles every payment; we never see your card number.
A tip never changes a pick, and no candidate, party or PAC money is ever accepted.
A monthly tip repeats until you stop it. Stop anytime from the link in your receipt or the billing portal.
Changed your mind? Ask within 30 days of any payment for a full refund.
Fine Print
We’ll post every change on this page with a new date. Members get an email before any price change.
Found a wrong number or a broken source? Tell us and we’ll fix it. Questions, corrections or refunds: hello@citizensballot.com.