Privacy Policy

Information we collect

When you vote, we may collect the name you submit, your ZIP code, your self-reported Salem County residency, your poll selection and the time of participation. Voter names are stored encrypted and are not publicly displayed. A normalized name hash may be used for duplicate detection.

We also use browser/device-related identifiers, such as a browser token, and hashed IP-related data to help prevent duplicate participation and abuse, operate the service and protect security. These identifiers and hashes are not displayed with public results.

If you suggest a poll or provide information through a poll submission, we may collect the submitted question, context, choices, related timestamps and any image or document you upload. If a submission is approved, its question and approved materials may be published on the site.

If you choose Contact Us, information you include in your email is handled by your email service and by us when we receive it.

How information is used

Information may be used to operate polls, calculate and display results, review submissions, prevent abuse or duplicate participation, moderate content, maintain security, and audit or preserve the integrity of the service. Public poll results do not expose voter names.

Residency is self-reported. We do not independently verify voter identity. Poll results are informal and non-scientific and describe participation on this site, not a verified or representative sample.

Service providers and sharing

Information may be processed by third parties that support hosting, operational infrastructure and service security. If you choose to share a poll through Facebook or Meta, that service handles your activity under its own policies. We do not collect information for sale to advertisers.

Retention and security

Information may be retained as reasonably necessary to operate, secure, audit and preserve the integrity of the service. We use measures such as encryption for stored voter names and hashing for certain duplicate- and abuse-protection data, but no online service can guarantee absolute security.

Children

Ask Salem County is not intended for children under 13, and we do not knowingly seek personal information from children under 13.

Questions

For privacy questions, contact [email protected].