Terms of Service

1. Acceptance

By accessing or using board-of-elections.org/, you agree to these Terms of Service and to our Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, Disclaimer, DMCA Policy, Editorial Policy, Sources & Methodology, and Accessibility Statement. If you do not agree, do not use the site.

2. Permitted Use

• Read content for personal, informational, or educational purposes
• Print or save individual pages for personal reference
• Share links to specific pages by URL
• Quote brief excerpts under fair use, with attribution to board-of-elections.org/ and a link to the source page
• Use the agency contact details to reach the agency directly
• Use the site as a starting point for nonpartisan voter education

3. Prohibited Use

• Use any content as a “consumer report” under the FCRA — we are not a CRA and our content is not authorised for FCRA-permissible-purpose use
• Use the site or its content for any campaign, fundraising, or political-advocacy purpose without explicit prior written permission
• Use the site or its content to mislead voters about polling place locations, deadlines, voter ID rules, or any other election-administration fact — election misinformation is strictly prohibited and may violate state and federal law
• Use the site to intimidate voters, suppress voter turnout, or otherwise interfere with the right to vote — federal law (52 U.S.C. § 20511) makes voter intimidation a federal offense
• Use the site for any unauthorised voter list extraction, voter list matching, or voter-data-broker activity
• Scrape, mass-download, or systematically extract content for commercial republication
• Use the site to harass, threaten, dox, or otherwise harm any individual, including election workers, election officials, candidates, or voters
• Use the site as a stand-in for legal advice in any election matter
• Re-publish content under a different brand without permission
• Reverse-engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract source code from any site infrastructure
• Use the site to deliver malware, conduct attacks, or otherwise interfere with site operation
• Misrepresent yourself as the site, an editor, an agency staff member, or an election official
• Use site content to file fraudulent voter registrations, fraudulent absentee ballot requests, or fraudulent public-records requests with any agency

4. Accounts

The site does not require account creation for normal browsing. If we add account features in the future, additional terms will apply.

5. Intellectual Property

The original editorial content of board-of-elections.org/ — guides, explanations, walkthroughs, structured data, and design — is protected by copyright. Subject to the permitted-use clause above and the fair-use doctrine (17 U.S.C. § 107), all rights reserved.

Federal and state government works are generally not subject to copyright (17 U.S.C. § 105). State agency forms, regulations, and statutes are public information. We use agency names — “California Secretary of State,” “Texas Secretary of State,” “Florida Department of State Division of Elections,” “New York State Board of Elections,” “Wisconsin Elections Commission,” “Maryland State Board of Elections,” “Illinois State Board of Elections,” “U.S. Election Assistance Commission,” “Federal Election Commission,” and others — nominatively to identify the agency our page covers; we do not claim affiliation or endorsement.

6. User Submissions

If you send us a correction, comment, or suggestion, you grant us a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to use, reproduce, modify, and incorporate the submission into the site for editorial purposes. We will not publish your name or contact details without permission. Do not send confidential, sensitive, or politically partisan content through the contact form or email.

7. Third-Party Content & Links

The site links to state and federal agencies, nonpartisan voter assistance organisations, and other third-party sites. We do not control those sites and are not responsible for their content, availability, accuracy, or privacy practices. A link is not an endorsement.

8. Disclaimers

The site is provided “as is” and “as available.” To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, completeness, non-infringement, and availability. We do not warrant that contact details, deadlines, addresses, phone numbers, or election rules are current or accurate at any specific moment — election rules change, sometimes mid-cycle through litigation or legislative session.

9. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law: board-of-elections.org/ and its operators, editors, contributors, employees, and agents are not liable for any indirect, consequential, special, incidental, or punitive damages arising from your use of the site or your reliance on any content. Aggregate liability to any user is capped at one hundred U.S. dollars ($100).

10. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless board-of-elections.org/ and its operators, editors, contributors, and agents from any claim, loss, liability, demand, or expense (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your breach of these Terms or your misuse of the site, including any FCRA-prohibited use of content, any campaign use without permission, any voter intimidation, or any election misinformation.

11. Term & Termination

These Terms are effective until terminated. We may terminate or suspend access to the site or any user, at any time, for any reason or no reason, without notice. Sections that by their nature should survive termination — including IP, disclaimers, liability cap, indemnity, governing law, arbitration, and miscellaneous — survive.

12. Governing Law & Venue

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. Subject to the AAA arbitration clause below, the exclusive venue for any judicial proceeding (including challenges to enforceability of arbitration) is the state and federal courts located in New Castle County, Delaware, and the parties consent to personal jurisdiction there.

13. Disputes & AAA Arbitration

Any dispute arising from these Terms or your use of the site (a “Dispute”) shall be resolved by binding individual arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules in effect at the time of filing, except that small-claims court actions for monetary relief within the small-claims court’s jurisdiction may proceed in court.

30-day opt-out. You may opt out of this arbitration agreement by emailing info@board-of-elections.org with subject line “Arbitration opt-out” within 30 days of first using the site, including your name and a clear statement that you are opting out. If you opt out, disputes proceed in the Delaware courts described above.

Procedure. Arbitration is individual. The arbitrator decides all issues, including arbitrability. Hearings, if any, take place by video or in the county where you reside, unless the parties agree otherwise. Each party bears its own attorneys’ fees and costs unless the arbitrator awards otherwise under applicable law.

14. Class-Action & Jury Waiver

Subject to the 30-day opt-out, you and we waive the right to bring claims as a class, consolidated, or representative action. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one user’s claims. You and we also waive the right to a jury trial in any matter outside arbitration.

15. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms. The “Last reviewed” date at the top reflects the current version. Material changes are flagged on the site for 30 days. Continued use after the effective date of changes constitutes acceptance.

16. Miscellaneous

• Severability. If any clause is found unenforceable, the rest of the Terms remain in effect.
• No waiver. Our failure to enforce any clause is not a waiver of future enforcement.
• Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and the other policies incorporated by reference, constitute the entire agreement between you and us regarding the site.
• No third-party beneficiaries. These Terms do not create rights in favor of any third party.
• Assignment. You may not assign these Terms; we may assign them in connection with any sale, merger, or reorganisation of the publication.
• Headings. Section headings are for convenience only and do not affect interpretation.

17. Contact

For any question about these Terms, email info@board-of-elections.org with subject line “Terms question.”