Actual Vote User Agreement

This is the formal agreement between you and America Counts when you use the Actual Vote mobile application. By creating an Actual Vote account, you agree to the terms set out below.

This is one of four documents that describe your relationship with Actual Vote:

• This Actual Vote User Agreement sets out the terms of using the app.
• The Privacy Policy describes how we handle your data.
• The Health, Safety, and Practicality Statement covers safety in the field, health and communicable illness, what to expect from the methodology, and what we can and cannot guarantee.
• Using Actual Vote is a practical guide and tutorial you can read or consult at any time.

When you create an account, you affirmatively agree to this User Agreement — the formal contract between you and America Counts. You also confirm that you have been given the opportunity to review the Privacy Policy and the Health, Safety, and Practicality Statement; this User Agreement incorporates relevant terms from those documents by reference. The fourth document, Using Actual Vote, is available for reading or consultation; it is not part of the agreement. Each of these documents covers something the others do not, and reading one is not a substitute for reading the others.

1. Who you are agreeing with

This agreement is between you (the user of the Actual Vote app) and Democracy Counts, Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-partisan corporation. Democracy Counts operates Actual Vote through its initiative, America Counts. References in this agreement to “America Counts,” “we,” “us,” and “our” mean Democracy Counts and America Counts together.

We are not affiliated with any government, any political party, any campaign, or any candidate. We do not represent any government entity. Actual Vote is non-partisan and is not used to advance any political agenda.

2. What you are agreeing to

By creating an Actual Vote account and using the app, you agree:

• You have read and understood the “Before You Start” notice presented at the time of account creation.
• You have been given the opportunity to review the Privacy Policy and the Health, Safety, and Practicality Statement, and you understand that this User Agreement incorporates terms from those documents by reference.
• You understand and accept the terms set out in this agreement.
• You are at least 13 years old. (Actual Vote is intended for adult volunteers and for high-school-aged participants 14 and older; minors should use it with the awareness of a parent, guardian, or teacher.)
• You will use the app in accordance with applicable law.
• You will not use the app in any way that compromises the safety or privacy of yourself or anyone else.

3. Your status as a volunteer

When you use Actual Vote, you are a volunteer, not an employee, agent, contractor, or representative of America Counts. We do not pay you, we do not direct your activities, and we do not have an employment or contractual relationship with you (unless we have separately entered into a written agreement that says otherwise).

What this means in practice:

• You decide when, where, and how to use the app, within the limits of applicable law and your own safety.
• We do not require you to do anything specific. You can use the app as much or as little as you want.
• We are not responsible for your conduct, your safety, or any consequences of your use of the app.
• You are not authorized to speak on behalf of America Counts or to represent yourself as affiliated with us beyond your status as a volunteer user.

4. The recordings you submit

Recordings you submit through the Actual Vote app are processed by America Counts according to the methodology described in Using Actual Vote and the Privacy Policy. The most important things you need to know:

• Approved recordings become public. Submissions that pass our vetting process are published to the public archive at av.democracycounts.org, where they are accessible to anyone, indefinitely. You should read Section 5 of the Privacy Policy (“What Becomes Public”) and Section 2.2 of Using Actual Vote (“Publication, analysis, and findings”) before submitting your first recording.
• Your responsibility for recording content. You are responsible for what is in the recordings you submit. You should never include personal information of any kind — yours or anyone else’s — in a recording. Our vetting process tries to catch personal information before publication, but it is conducted by humans and is not perfect.
• Recordings as evidence. The recordings you submit may be used as evidence in legal proceedings. In rare cases, you could be asked to confirm under oath that you took a video. Section 6 of the Privacy Policy, the “Your recordings as legal evidence” section of the Health, Safety, and Practicality Statement, and Section 2.4 of Using Actual Vote describe this dimension in detail.
• Our use of submissions. By submitting a recording, you grant America Counts the right to use it for the purposes described in the Privacy Policy, including vetting, transcription, comparison analysis, publication in the public archive, use in published Actual Vote reports, and use as evidence in legal proceedings if it becomes relevant.

5. Local rules and your responsibility for compliance

Recording publicly posted poll tapes after polls close is legal in the situations Actual Vote is designed for. Section 1.3 of Using Actual Vote provides a practical summary of the general legal framework.

But local rules vary substantially by state, county, and even individual polling place. You are responsible for knowing the rules that apply where you are using the app. America Counts cannot guarantee that the general legal framework applies to your specific jurisdiction or your specific situation, and we cannot give you legal advice about your particular case. If you have questions about whether a specific recording is permitted in your jurisdiction, consult local resources or qualified counsel before recording.

6. Your safety

Actual Vote often involves going out in public, sometimes at night, sometimes alone, to record poll tapes at polling places and elections offices. You are responsible for your own safety. America Counts is not responsible for your safety when you use the app.

The Health, Safety, and Practicality Statement covers safety practices in detail, including field safety, how to handle interactions with bystanders and officials, and example scripts for the most common encounters. The Using Actual Vote tutorial provides additional practical guidance. The basic principle: if anything feels outside your risk tolerance, leave. Actual Vote is not worth getting hurt or arrested over.

7. What we cannot guarantee

We cannot guarantee that poll tapes will be posted in any specific location. We cannot guarantee that the Actual Vote app will work flawlessly on every device. We cannot guarantee that we will be able to transcribe and analyze your specific submissions in time for any specific election. We cannot guarantee any specific outcome from your work.

These limitations are practical realities of the methodology and the resources of a small organization. They are explained in detail in the “What to expect from Actual Vote” section of the Health, Safety, and Practicality Statement, which we strongly recommend reading before your first recording. By using the app, you accept that these limits exist and you do not hold America Counts responsible for any of them.

8. Scope of Actual Vote

Actual Vote audits vote reporting — the part of an election that runs from when votes are tabulated by voting machines through when the official results are certified by the local canvassing board. Actual Vote does not audit vote counting — the larger process of voter registration, ballot marking, machine tabulation, and the like. The “What Actual Vote is and isn’t” subsection of the Health, Safety, and Practicality Statement explains this distinction in more detail.

In particular, Actual Vote does not provide evidence about voter suppression, individual ballot interpretation, voting machine internal accuracy, or any other aspect of elections outside of the vote reporting step. If you are concerned about one of these other aspects of an election, Actual Vote is not the right tool.

9. Disclaimers and limitation of liability

The Actual Vote app and our services are provided “as is” and “as available” without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied. We disclaim all warranties to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, America Counts is not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages arising out of or related to your use of the Actual Vote app, including (but not limited to) damages for loss of time, loss of expected outcomes, personal injury, property damage, or emotional distress. Our total liability to you for any claim arising out of or related to this agreement or your use of the app is limited to the amount you have paid us, which is zero.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties or the limitation of liability for certain damages. In those jurisdictions, our liability is limited to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law.

10. Changes to this agreement

We may update this agreement from time to time. When we do, we will:

• Update the version date at the top of this document.
• Notify you of material changes through the app, through email, or through a notice on our website.
• Re-display the “Before You Start” notice on your next app launch if the changes affect anything in the six essential points.

Your continued use of Actual Vote after a change to this agreement constitutes acceptance of the updated agreement. If you do not agree with a change, you should stop using the app and may close your account.

11. Closing your account

You may close your Actual Vote account at any time by contacting us through the app or through our Contact Us page. Closing your account ends your ability to sign in but does not, by itself, delete the recordings you have previously submitted or remove them from the public archive. The complete handling of submissions and account information at closure is described in Section 7.4 of the Privacy Policy. If you also want a previously published recording removed from the public archive, please tell us so explicitly when you request closure; that request will be evaluated under the takedown criteria in Section 5.5 of the Privacy Policy.

12. Governing law

This agreement is governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. Any disputes arising out of or related to this agreement will be resolved in the state and federal courts located in California, and you consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.

13. How to reach us

If you have questions about this agreement, please contact us through our Contact Us page. The contact form is currently the primary way to reach us; we do not yet publish a postal mailing address for legal notices. When one is established, it will be added to this section and to Section 13 of the Privacy Policy.

This agreement replaces all earlier versions of the Actual Vote User Agreement. The earlier versions are no longer in effect.