Terms of Use & Privacy Notice

Effective Date: September 17, 2026

1. About change.vote

change.vote is operated by Change.org, PBC (“Change.org,” “we,” or “us”). It is a non-partisan civic information service that publishes voter guides and candidate information for elections in supported jurisdictions. By using the site, you agree to these Terms of Use and Privacy Notice.

change.vote is operated by a public benefit corporation. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated in partnership with any government agency, election authority, candidate, political party, or campaign committee.

2. Eligibility and Accounts

You must be at least 18 years old to use change.vote. By using the site, you represent that you meet this age requirement.

You can browse change.vote without an account. Some features require an account, and others use cookie-based provisional accounts as described below.

If you save a candidate or ballot measure position for future reference without logging in, we automatically create a provisional account associated with your browser through a cookie and assign you a randomly generated username. Saved candidates or ballot measure positions, called “saves” or “picks,” are private to you and visible only when you are logged in. If you clear your cookies, this provisional data will be wiped. If you later create a regular account, your saved items will be associated with that account.

To publicly endorse or recommend a candidate or ballot measure position, or to publish a voter guide, you must create an account. When you create an account, you provide your email address, set a password, and enter your first and last name, and we ask you to verify your email address. You may also create an account by signing in with Google, in which case Google shares basic profile information with us (typically your name, email address, and profile photo); your use of Google sign-in is governed by Google’s own terms and privacy policy. We generate a username for you based on your name, which you can edit in your account settings along with your email address and password.

You can close or delete your account at any time from your account settings. Closing your account permanently hides your profile from public view but does not delete your personal information. Deletion is described in Section 7.6.

3. About the Information We Publish

The candidate cards, race summaries, and other materials published on change.vote are compiled from publicly available local sources, including official candidate filings, campaign websites, news coverage, and public records. We use AI-powered tools to gather, synthesize, and summarize this information so we can publish at scale across many races and jurisdictions.

You should treat the information on change.vote as a starting point for your own research, not as the final or sole source. AI-assisted summaries may contain errors, omissions, or inaccuracies. We make reasonable efforts to verify the information we publish, but we do not guarantee its accuracy or completeness, and we may update or correct content at any time. For ballot information of record, consult your state or local election authority.

4. Voter Guides and Endorsements Submitted by Third Parties

change.vote may display voter guides submitted by third-party individuals. Endorsements and recommendations contained in third-party voter guides are the views of the submitter and do not reflect the views of Change.org. Inclusion of a voter guide on change.vote is not an endorsement by Change.org of the submitter or the views expressed.

Voter guide submissions are also governed by the supplemental Voter Guide Submission Terms presented at the time of submission, which include additional eligibility, content licensing, and accuracy representations. In the event of a conflict between these Terms and the Voter Guide Submission Terms, the Voter Guide Submission Terms control with respect to voter guide submissions.

To submit a voter guide, post a public endorsement, or otherwise publish content on change.vote, you must be a U.S. citizen, must not be controlled by any foreign national, foreign entity, or foreign government, and must not be acting on behalf of any of the foregoing. By submitting or posting content, you represent and warrant that all of the foregoing is true and that the content you submit is your own or properly licensed.

We reserve the right to reject, remove, or modify any voter guide or any content for any reason, including failure to meet these requirements, suspected inaccuracy, suspected foreign interference, or violation of our Community Guidelines.

change.vote may also display endorsements of candidates or ballot measure positions that third parties have posted publicly on social media. We display these by embedding the original post using the social platform’s embed tools; the platform’s terms govern the embedded content, and if the original post is deleted or made private it will stop appearing on change.vote. Embedded endorsements are the views of the person who posted them, not of Change.org, and we do not independently verify them. Featuring an endorsement is not an endorsement by Change.org of any candidate, measure, or person. If you appear in an embedded post and want it removed from change.vote, contact us and we will remove it.

5. Use of Endorsements in Advertising

We may feature endorsements and recommendations posted on change.vote (both called “endorsements” in this section) in advertising and marketing for change.vote and Change.org. This includes paid ads on social media and other third-party platforms, our own websites and apps, email, and our social media accounts. When we feature your endorsement, we may show the endorsement itself along with your name, your username or handle, and your profile photo, as they appear with your endorsement.

By posting or submitting an endorsement (including a social media post you submit for us to embed), you grant Change.org, PBC, its affiliates, and vendors acting on our behalf a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, excerpt, and display your endorsement for these purposes, and you consent to our use of your name, username or handle, and profile photo alongside it. We may format or excerpt your endorsement to fit an ad, but we will not change its meaning or present you as supporting a candidate or position you did not endorse. You will not be paid for these uses. Featuring your endorsement does not mean Change.org endorses any candidate or measure, and we may add any sponsorship, disclaimer, or other notice the law requires for a particular ad.

You can opt out by emailing help@change.vote. Opting out does not affect your endorsement on change.vote itself; it will still appear on the site as described in Section 4. If you opt out, delete your endorsement, or close or delete your account, we will not feature your endorsement in any new advertising or marketing, and we will remove it from existing placements as soon as we reasonably can, though we cannot recall copies that were already distributed. Uses made before you opted out remain authorized.

6. Acceptable Use

You agree not to use change.vote to publish or transmit any content that is unlawful, defamatory, fraudulent, harassing, threatening, or that infringes any third party’s rights. You agree not to attempt to interfere with the operation of the site, scrape its content for commercial use, or reverse-engineer its tools. You agree not to use change.vote in any way that violates federal, state, or local election law, including 52 U.S.C. § 30121 (foreign nationals’ contributions and expenditures) and applicable campaign finance disclosure rules.

7. Privacy Notice

7.1 What We Collect

If you visit change.vote without entering an address or submitting any information, we collect only standard server log data (IP address, browser, device type, and timestamps) and information collected through cookies and similar technologies as described in our Cookie Policy.

If you choose to enter your home address to view your specific ballot, we collect your address and use it to match you to your voting district and for aggregate analytics. Entering an address is optional; you can browse change.vote without it. We do not sell or share your home address with advertising partners.

If you create an account, we collect your name, email address, password, and the username we generate for you, which you can edit. If you save items without an account, we associate those items with a cookie on your browser. If you publicly endorse a candidate or ballot measure position, or publish a voter guide, we collect and publish that content on your public profile and on the relevant candidate or ballot measure page. Your public profile displays your username, your endorsements and recommendations, and any voter guides you have published.

If you submit a voter guide, we collect any information you provide for verification purposes along with the content you submit.

If you sign up to receive notifications, we collect the email address or phone number you provide.

7.2 How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to operate change.vote, match users to ballots, verify the authenticity and eligibility of voter guide submitters, send notifications you have requested, and prevent fraud and abuse. We may use de-identified or aggregated information for analytics, research, product improvement, and reporting on civic engagement trends.

We may, in the future, combine information collected through change.vote with information collected through other Change.org platforms operated by Change.org, PBC. If and when we do so, we will update this Privacy Notice and provide notice consistent with applicable law.

We may also use your endorsements, together with your name, username or handle, and profile photo, in advertising and marketing for change.vote and Change.org, as described in Section 5. You can opt out at any time by emailing help@change.vote.

7.3 How We Share Your Information

We share your information with service providers who help us operate change.vote, including hosting, analytics, and ballot data API providers. To match you to your ballot, we transmit your home address to our ballot data provider (currently BallotReady), which may in turn use third-party geolocation services to process the address. These providers are contractually limited to using your information for the purposes for which we share it.

We do not sell your personal information for money. We may share certain device and browsing data with advertising partners to measure or deliver advertising. Under California and certain other state privacy laws, this may be considered a “sale” or “share” of personal information. You can opt out through the “Manage cookies” link in our footer or by sending a Global Privacy Control signal from your browser, which we honor.

We may disclose your information when required by law, in response to valid legal process, to protect the safety of any person, or to investigate suspected fraud or violations of these Terms.

7.4 Ballot Matching

We match users to their voting district and ballot using the home address you provide and third-party ballot data APIs (currently BallotReady). We may also link to third-party services such as TurboVote for voter registration lookups; we do not pass your information to those services, and we are not responsible for their privacy practices.

7.5 Cookies and Tracking

change.vote uses cookies and similar technologies for essential site functionality, analytics, and advertising measurement. You can manage your preferences through the cookie banner displayed when you first visit the site or through your browser settings. We honor Global Privacy Control (GPC) signals from your browser as opt-out requests for the sale or sharing of your personal information. For more information, see our Cookie Policy.

7.6 Data Retention

We retain personal information for as long as necessary to operate change.vote and provide ongoing civic information services, except where a longer retention period is required by law. Because election information remains relevant for historical and research purposes, we retain core platform data on a continuing basis. You may request deletion of your personal information at any time through your account settings or by using the contact information below, and we will delete it across our systems through our cascade deletion process, except where retention is required by law or necessary to detect, prevent, or address fraud or security incidents.

7.7 Your Rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, delete, or obtain a portable copy of your personal information; the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information; the right to limit our use of sensitive personal information; and the right to non-discrimination for exercising these rights. To exercise any of these rights, contact us at help@change.vote. We will verify your identity before responding and will respond within the time required by applicable law.

7.8 California-Specific Disclosures

California residents have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (CCPA/CPRA). These include the right to know what personal information we collect, the right to delete personal information, the right to correct inaccurate information, the right to opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information, and the right to limit the use and disclosure of sensitive personal information. We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of consumers under the age of 16.

We may collect home addresses, which California law treats as personal information. We use addresses to match users to their voting district and for aggregate analytics about civic engagement, and do not sell or share them. AI-generated content on change.vote is identified as such consistent with applicable California disclosure requirements (including AB 2839).

7.9 International Data Transfers

change.vote is operated from the United States, and the information we collect is processed and stored in the United States. If you access change.vote from outside the United States, you consent to the transfer of your information to the United States.

8. Disclaimers and Limitation of Liability

change.vote is provided “as is” without warranties of any kind, express or implied. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Change.org disclaims all warranties, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. Change.org’s total liability arising out of or relating to your use of change.vote will not exceed one hundred dollars ($100), or, where applicable law does not permit such a limitation, the minimum amount permitted by law.

9. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms of Use and Privacy Notice from time to time. If we make material changes, we will provide notice on the site and update the Effective Date above. Your continued use of change.vote after the changes take effect constitutes your acceptance of the updated Terms.

10. Contact

For questions about these Terms or our privacy practices, contact us at help@change.vote or:

Change.org, PBC
548 Market Street #29993
San Francisco, CA 94104