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Privacy Policy

Last updated April 07, 2026

This Privacy Notice for Citizens Before Politics, a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization ("we," "us," or "our"), describes how and why we might access, collect, store, use, and/or share ("process") your personal information when you use our services ("Services"), including when you:

  • Visit our website at citizensbeforepolitics.org or any website of ours that links to this Privacy Notice
  • Use our civic engagement platform, where verified U.S. citizens can state their positions on proposed constitutional amendments.
  • The site provides educational content about government structure and constitutional history, and aggregates anonymous, verified citizen positions by state and district.
  • Engage with us in other related ways

Questions or concerns? Reading this Privacy Notice will help you understand your privacy rights and choices. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use our Services. If you still have any questions or concerns, please contact us at citizen@citizensbeforepolitics.org.

SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS

This summary provides key points from our Privacy Notice. You can find more details about any of these topics by using the table of contents below.

What personal information do we process? We collect only the minimum information necessary: an email address (temporary, deleted after verification), an email address for waiting list only (hashed, deleted upon notification), a residential address (temporary, deleted after verification), a password, and a system-generated username. We do not collect your name, phone number, or any other identifying information.

Do we process any sensitive personal information? No. We do not process sensitive personal information.

Do we collect any information from third parties? Yes. We receive limited, anonymized data from Stripe Identity: a general age range and your electoral district assignments (congressional, state senate, and state house). No name, address, date of birth, or Social Security number is transmitted to us.

How do we process your information? We process your information to provide and secure our Services, to aggregate anonymous voting positions by state and district, and to comply with legal obligations.

In what situations and with which parties do we share personal information? We do not sell, share, or disclose personal information to third parties for marketing, advertising, or commercial purposes. Stripe processes payment and identity verification data under its own privacy policy.

How do we keep your information safe? Our primary security measure is architectural: we do not store personal information. What we cannot access cannot be breached.

What are your rights? Depending on your location, you may have rights regarding your personal information, including the right to access, correct, or delete it.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  1. What information do we collect?
  2. How do we process your information?
  3. When and with whom do we share your personal information?
  4. How long do we keep your information?
  5. How do we keep your information safe?
  6. Do we collect information from minors?
  7. What are your privacy rights?
  8. Controls for Do-Not-Track features
  9. Do United States residents have specific privacy rights?
  10. Do we make updates to this notice?
  11. How can you contact us about this notice?
  12. How can you review, update, or delete the data we collect from you?

1. WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?

Personal information you disclose to us

In Short: We collect minimal personal information that you provide to us during the verification process.

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide when you register on the Services. The personal information we collect is limited to:

  • Email address — provided temporarily during verification. Used only to resume an interrupted verification session. Deleted after verification is complete.
  • Email address (waiting list) — if you request placement on the sponsor credit waiting list, your email address is collected solely to notify you when a credit becomes available. It is stored as a one-way hash and cannot be read, exported, or linked to your account or voting activity. It is deleted upon notification or upon your removal from the list.
  • Residential address — provided during verification. Used solely to determine your congressional, state senate, and state house district assignments. Not transmitted to Stripe or any third party. Automatically deleted upon verification completion.
  • Password — set by you during account creation to secure your account.
  • Username — system-generated and anonymous. You do not choose or provide a personal identifier.

Sensitive Information. We do not process sensitive information.

Payment Data. We may collect data necessary to process your payment when a verification fee is paid or a sponsorship credit is donated. All payment data is handled and stored by Stripe. You may find their privacy notice here: stripe.com/privacy. Citizens Before Politics does not receive, process, or store any payment card information. Stripe's dashboard provides access to transaction records that may include customer name, email, masked card data, and IP address. This information resides on Stripe's platform and is not downloaded, exported, or stored on our servers. It is not linked to user accounts, voting activity, or anonymous tokens. Access to this data is limited to payment dispute resolution and fraud prevention. You may find their privacy notice here: stripe.com/privacy. 

Recovery Code. Upon account creation, you are issued a backup recovery code. This code is your only method of account recovery if you lose your password. We do not store information that can be used to recover your identity or associate your account with your personal information.

Information automatically collected

In Short: Limited technical information is collected automatically through server logs. We use privacy-focused analytics that do not track individual users.

Server Logs. Our web server automatically generates access logs that may include IP addresses, timestamps, browser type, and pages requested. These logs are used for security monitoring and are automatically purged on a regular cycle. Server logs are never linked to user accounts or voting activity.

Matomo Analytics. This site uses Matomo, a self-hosted, privacy-focused analytics platform. Matomo is operated entirely on Citizens Before Politics servers — no data is transmitted to third parties. No cookies are used. All analytics data is aggregated and never linked to user accounts or voting activity. No cookie consent banner is required.

Information collected from other sources

In Short: We receive limited, anonymized data from Stripe Identity. No other third-party sources provide us with personal information.

Stripe Identity is used to verify that each participant is a unique U.S. citizen. During the verification process, Stripe collects your name, date of birth, and last four digits of your Social Security number. None of this information is transmitted to or stored by Citizens Before Politics.

After verification, Stripe provides us with only the following:

  • A general age range (not your date of birth)
  • A digital fingerprint (an irreversible hash used to prevent duplicate accounts — readable only by Stripe)

We do not receive data from public databases, marketing partners, social media platforms, data brokers, or any other third-party source.

2. HOW DO WE PROCESS YOUR INFORMATION?

In Short: We process your information to provide and secure our Services, to aggregate anonymous citizen positions, and to comply with legal obligations.

We process your personal information for the following reasons:

  • To facilitate account creation and authentication. We process your email (temporarily) and password to create and secure your account.
  • To deliver and facilitate delivery of services. We process your anonymous token, age range, and district data to enable voting and position aggregation.
  • To protect our Services. We use the digital fingerprint provided by Stripe to prevent duplicate accounts and maintain the integrity of verified results.
  • To aggregate and publish anonymous citizen positions. We aggregate anonymous voting positions by state and electoral district for public display, and to enable representative accountability by publishing verified citizen positions alongside representative responses.
  • To comply with our legal obligations. We may process your information to comply with legal obligations, respond to legal requests, and exercise, establish, or defend our legal rights.

3. WHEN AND WITH WHOM DO WE SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION?

In Short: We do not sell, share, or disclose personal information to third parties for marketing, advertising, or commercial purposes.

The only third party that receives personal information is Stripe, which processes payment and identity verification under its own privacy policy. Stripe does not share your personal information with us beyond the limited, anonymized data described in Section 1.
Aggregate Data. Voting positions are published in aggregate form by state and district. This data is anonymous and cannot be traced to any individual account or person.

We have not disclosed, sold, or shared any personal information to third parties for a business or commercial purpose in the preceding twelve (12) months. We will not sell or share personal information in the future.

4. HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION?

In Short: Account data is retained as long as your account is active. Certain anonymized data cannot be removed on a per-user basis.

We keep your account information (anonymous token, password) for as long as your account remains active. Upon account deletion, your anonymous token and account credentials are permanently removed.

Aggregate voting data. Votes cast prior to account deletion remain in aggregate totals but are permanently disassociated from any account or token. Individual voting records are removed upon account deletion; aggregate counts by state and district are not altered.

Age range and district data. Age range data is collected in aggregate form that is not linked to individual accounts and cannot be identified or removed on a per-user basis. Electoral district data (congressional, state senate, and state house) is linked to individual accounts and will be deleted upon account termination.

Temporary email. The email address provided during verification is deleted upon completion of the verification process.

Server logs. Server access logs are automatically purged on a regular cycle and are never linked to user accounts.

5. HOW DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION SAFE?

In Short: Our primary security measure is architectural: we do not store personal information.

We have implemented appropriate and reasonable technical and organizational security measures designed to protect the security of any personal information we process. Our architecture is designed so that personal identifying information is never transmitted to or stored on our servers. What we cannot access cannot be breached.

However, despite our safeguards and efforts to secure your information, no electronic transmission over the Internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, so we cannot promise or guarantee that hackers, cybercriminals, or other unauthorized third parties will not be able to defeat our security and improperly collect, access, steal, or modify your information. You should only access the Services within a secure environment.

6. DO WE COLLECT INFORMATION FROM MINORS?

In Short: We do not knowingly collect data from or market to anyone under 18 years of age.

We do not knowingly collect, solicit data from, or market to children under 18 years of age. By using the Services, you represent that you are at least 18 years old. If we learn that personal information from users less than 18 years of age has been collected, we will deactivate the account and take reasonable measures to promptly delete such data from our records. If you become aware of any data we may have collected from anyone under age 18, please contact us at citizen@citizensbeforepolitics.org.

7. WHAT ARE YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS?

In Short: You may review, change, or terminate your account at any time.

Withdrawing your consent: If we are relying on your consent to process your personal information, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us at the address provided in Section 11.

Account Information
If you would like to review or change the information in your account or terminate your account, you can contact us using the information provided in Section 11.

Upon your request to terminate your account, we will deactivate or delete your account and information from our active databases. As noted in Section 4, votes cast prior to account deletion remain in aggregate totals but are permanently disassociated from any account. We may retain limited information to prevent fraud, troubleshoot problems, assist with investigations, enforce our legal terms, or comply with applicable legal requirements.

If you have questions or comments about your privacy rights, you may email us at citizen@citizensbeforepolitics.org.

8. CONTROLS FOR DO-NOT-TRACK FEATURES

Because Citizens Before Politics uses Plausible Analytics, which does not track individual users, and because we do not use cookies or engage in targeted advertising, Do-Not-Track browser signals have no practical effect on our Services. We do not track you regardless of your browser settings.

Global Privacy Control (GPC): We recognize and honor Global Privacy Control signals. If you use a browser or extension that supports GPC, we will treat this as a valid request to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information under applicable state privacy laws. When we detect a GPC signal from your browser, we will automatically apply your opt-out preference without requiring additional action. For more information about GPC, visit globalprivacycontrol.org.

9. DO UNITED STATES RESIDENTS HAVE SPECIFIC PRIVACY RIGHTS?

In Short: If you are a resident of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, or Virginia, you may have certain rights regarding your personal information.

Categories of Personal Information We Collect
In the past twelve (12) months, we have collected the following categories of personal information:

  • Identifiers: Email address (temporary, deleted after verification), residential address (temporary, deleted after verification), system-generated username. We do not collect names or phone numbers. IP addresses are not collected for identification purposes.
  • Protected classification characteristics: General age range only, stored in aggregate buckets separate from any individual account. We do not collect gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, marital status, or any other demographic data. Political districts (congressional, state senate, and state house) are derived from the user's address by Stripe.

We have not collected information in any other categories listed under applicable state privacy laws, including: California Customer Records personal information, commercial information, biometric information, internet or network activity, geolocation data, audio/electronic/sensory information, professional or employment information, education information, or inferences drawn from collected data.

We do not process sensitive personal information.

Retention: Age range and electoral district data are collected in aggregate form that is not linked to individual accounts and cannot be identified or removed on a per-user basis.

Sources: Personal information is collected directly from you (email, password) and from Stripe Identity (age range, electoral districts). No other sources are used.

Your Rights

Under applicable US state data protection laws, you may have the following rights:

  • Right to know whether or not we are processing your personal data
  • Right to access your personal data
  • Right to correct inaccuracies in your personal data
  • Right to request the deletion of your personal data
  • Right to obtain a copy of the personal data you previously shared with us
  • Right to non-discrimination for exercising your rights
  • Right to opt out of the processing of your personal data if it is used for targeted advertising, the sale of personal data, or profiling

How to Exercise Your Rights

To exercise these rights, you can contact us by visiting citizensbeforepolitics.org/contact or by using the contact details provided in Section 11. We will honor your opt-out preferences if you enact the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal on your browser.

Request Verification

Upon receiving your request, we will need to verify your identity to determine you are the same person about whom we have the information in our system. Due to the anonymous nature of our platform, identity verification for data requests may require additional steps.

Appeals

Under certain US state data protection laws, if we decline to take action regarding your request, you may appeal our decision by emailing us at citizen@citizensbeforepolitics.org. We will inform you in writing of any action taken or not taken in response to the appeal, including a written explanation of the reasons for the decisions. If your appeal is denied, you may submit a complaint to your state attorney general.

California “Shine The Light” Law

California Civil Code Section 1798.83 permits California residents to request information about categories of personal information disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes. We have not disclosed personal information to any third party for direct marketing purposes. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please contact us using the information provided in Section 11.

10. DO WE MAKE UPDATES TO THIS NOTICE?

In Short: Yes, we will update this notice as necessary to stay compliant with relevant laws.
We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by an updated “Revised” date at the top of this Privacy Notice. If we make material changes to this Privacy Notice, we may notify you by prominently posting a notice of such changes on the site. We encourage you to review this Privacy Notice periodically to stay informed of how we are protecting your information.

11. HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE?

If you have questions or comments about this notice, you may email us at citizen@citizensbeforepolitics.org.

12. HOW CAN YOU REVIEW, UPDATE, OR DELETE THE DATA WE COLLECT FROM YOU?

You have the right to request access to the personal information we collect from you, details about how we have processed it, correct inaccuracies, or delete your personal information. You may also have the right to withdraw your consent to our processing of your personal information. These rights may be limited in some circumstances by applicable law.

Due to the anonymous architecture of this platform, the only account data that can be accessed or deleted is your anonymous token, password, and associated voting records. Age range exist in aggregate form and cannot be attributed to or removed for individual users.

Account deletion is permanent. Because your account is not linked to any personal information, once deleted, it cannot be recovered. Your backup recovery code will no longer function after deletion.

To request to review, update, or delete your personal information, please contact us at citizen@citizensbeforepolitics.org.