Privacy Policy

Effective Date: April 15, 2024

Last Updated: April 1, 2024

Rock the Vote (“RTV,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) has adopted the following privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”), which describes how we collect, use and disclose Personal Information when you use www.rockthevote.org (the “Website”), use our civic technology tools (e.g., the Online Voter Registration Platform, Pledge to Vote, Voter Registration Status Lookup, and Absentee Ballot Request), and when you interact with us offline (collectively, the “Services”).

Before submitting Personal Information to us or using the Services, please review this Privacy Policy carefully.

Changes to this Policy: We may occasionally update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in our practices. When we post modifications to this Privacy Policy, we will revise the “Last Updated” date at the top of this web page. If the changes are material, we will endeavor to notify you in advance of such changes taking place.

Personal Information We Collect

“Personal Information” is information that identifies, relates to, or is capable of being associated with you. Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect the following information:

  • Identifiers, such as your name, email address, physical address, phone number, Social Security Number, and other government issued ID numbers.
  • Demographic information, such as your date of birth, gender, race, marital status.
  • Professional information, such as your employer or the organization you are affiliated with.
  • Internet activity information, such as your IP address, device ID, browser type and version, pages you visited on the Services, search terms and results on the Services, date and time you viewed pages on the Services, your language preferences, and other information about how you interact with the Services.
  • Non-precise geolocation information, such as geolocation derived from your IP address.

We collect this Personal Information from the following sources:

  • Directly from you, such as when you purchase and use the Services, sign-up for emails, or contact us with an inquiry.
  • Cookies and other tracking technologies, such as when you interact with our Services, as further described in the “Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies” section below.
  • Third parties, such as third parties that we partner with to provide products and services to you, social media networks, and, where permitted by law, commercially available sources such as public databases and data aggregators.

How We Use Personal Information

We may use your Personal Information for the following purposes:

  • Providing you with the information and services you have requested.
  • Administering, personalizing, and improving our Services, including to measure the effectiveness of our Services and to run analytics.
  • Responding to your inquiries and providing you with customer support.
  • Researching how consumers use the Services and conducting market research.
  • Marketing and promoting products and services that may be of interest to you.
  • Complying with our legal and regulatory obligations, including to establish, exercise, and/or defend legal claims or to protect the rights and property of RTV, our customers, and others.

If you submit a government issued ID number and/or Social Security Number when you use our civic technology tools, it will be used and retained solely to facilitate your voter registration or absentee ballot application.

How We Disclose Personal Information

We may share each category of Personal Information described in the “Personal Information We Collect” section above with the following categories of third parties:

  • Companies we contract with in order to receive services (our “Service Providers”). These services may include our voter file vendor, creating or maintaining our databases, other IT services, data analytics, donation payment processing, and responding to inquiries
  • Local or state election officials to effectuate voter registration
  • Our partners and organizations with principles and missions that overlap with those of RTV, as further described in the “Your Choices” section below
  • Civic technology partners who use customer versions of our civic technology tools
  • Our affiliates and companies with whom we share common ownership
  • Law enforcement agencies or other government agencies when we believe it is necessary or appropriate to satisfy any law, regulation or other governmental request; to protect or defend our rights and property; or where we believe disclosure is necessary to protect the health and safety of our personnel, clients, or the general public
  • Third parties as a result of a sale, merger, consolidation, change in control, transfer of assets, reorganization, or liquidation of our company, or in the course of due diligence related to any of these actions
  • Other third parties to which you have consented to the disclosure

Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on our Services and store certain information. These tracking technologies allow us to recognize you and information about you so that we can provide you with a customized experience when you re-visit the Website. We may collect information about your computer, including your IP address, device ID, browser type and version, information about how you interact with the Services, and your language preferences, as further described in the “Personal Information We Collect” section above.

Most web browsers automatically accept cookies. Typically, however, you may configure your browser to refuse all cookies or notify you when a cookie is being sent.

The technologies we use may include:

  • Cookies. A cookie is a small file placed on your device. You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent. However, if you do not accept cookies, you may not be able to use some parts of our Services. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our Service may use cookies.
  • Web Beacons. Certain sections of our Services and our emails may contain small electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit us, for example, to count users who have visited those pages or opened an email and for other related website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of a certain section and verifying system and server integrity).

Cookies can be “persistent” or “session” cookies. Persistent cookies remain on your personal computer or mobile device when you go offline, while session cookies are deleted as soon as you close your web browser. We use both session and persistent cookies for the purposes set out below:

  • To personalize the Services. We may use cookies in order to personalize your experience with the Website by displaying content we believe might interest you based on your information.
  • To estimate the size of our audience. Each browser accessing the Services is given a unique cookie which is then used to determine the size of our audience and the extent of repeat usage.
  • To analyze visitor trends and patterns. This enables us to provide our visitors with more useful content and services.

“Do Not Track” Signals

Some web browsers (including Safari, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome) incorporate a “Do Not Track” (“DNT”) or similar feature that signals to websites that a user does not want to have his or her online activity and behavior tracked. If a website that responds to a particular DNT signal receives the DNT signal, the browser can block that website from collecting certain information about the browser’s user. Not all browsers offer a DNT option and DNT signals are not yet uniform. For this reason, many digital service operators, including RTV, do not recognize or respond to DNT signals.

Your Choices

Updating and Correcting Your Information: We provide mechanisms for updating and correcting your personal information. You may also access and update your profile information and your preferences to receive email or other communications from us by sending an email to info@rockthevote.org.

Supporter List Sharing Opt-Out: Some Personal Information on our supporter lists, including “Identifiers” such as names, email addresses, and addresses, may be exchanged with named partners and other organizations with principles and/or missions that overlap with those of RTV. Supporters may opt out of such supporter list exchanges at any time. We provide users with the opportunity to opt out of such supporter list exchanges at any time – contact us at info@rockthevote.org if you would like to opt out.

Email Marketing Opt-Out: If you would like to opt out of receiving promotional or marketing e-mail from us, you may use the “unsubscribe” mechanism included in each marketing message. Note that your option not to receive promotional and marketing e-mail shall not preclude us from corresponding with you, by e-mail or otherwise, regarding your existing relationship with us.

Additional Information for Colorado Residents

Your Rights: Colorado residents may have the following rights, subject to legal limitations, concerning our collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information:

  • Right to Access/Data Portability: The right to confirm that we are processing Personal Information about you and obtain a copy of the Personal Information we have about you in a portal and readily usable (to the extent technically feasible) format.
  • Right to Delete: The right to request that we delete Personal Information that we maintain about you.
  • Right to Correct: The right to request that we correct inaccurate Personal Information that we maintain about you. 

We do not “sell” Personal Information or use it for targeted advertising purposes.

You may exercise any of these rights by emailing us at info@rockthevote.org. If you choose to exercise any of these rights, RTV will not discriminate against you in any way. If you do exercise certain rights, understand that you may be unable to use or access certain features of RTV’s Services.

Verification: To process rights requests, we may need to obtain certain Personal Information from you to locate you in our records or verify your identity depending on the nature of the request, such as your name and email address. In some cases, we may also request a signed declaration that you are who you say you are. We will inform you if we need such additional information.

Authorized Agents: Authorized agents may exercise rights on behalf of Colorado residents by submitting a request via info@rockthevote.org and indicating that they are submitting the request as an agent. We will require the agent to demonstrate authority to act on behalf of the resident, such as by providing signed permission from the resident. We may also require the resident to verify their own identity directly with us or to directly confirm with us that they provided the authorized agent permission to submit the request.

Appeal: If we deny your rights request, you may have the right to appeal. To submit an appeal, contact us at info@rockthevote.org. We will inform you of our response to your appeal in writing.

California Shine the Light

California Civil Code Section 1798.83 permits certain California residents to request certain information regarding our disclosure of certain categories of Personal Information to third parties for those third parties’ direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please reach out to us at info@rockthevote.org. This request may be made no more than once per calendar year, and we reserve our right not to respond to requests submitted other than to the email address specified above.

Third-Party Links

We may provide links to other websites for your convenience and information. Any access to and use of such third-party websites and services is not governed by this Privacy Policy but is instead governed by the privacy policies of those third parties. We are not responsible for the content or information collection practices of any third-party websites.

Children’s Privacy

The Website is not intended for use by children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect any Personal Information from children under 13 without prior verifiable parental consent. If we learn that a child under the age of 13 has submitted Personal Information without parental consent, we will take all reasonable measures to delete the information as soon as possible and not use such information for any purpose, except where necessary to protect the safety of the child or others as required or allowed by law.

Questions or Comments

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact info@rockthevote.org or mail your request to:

David Pruter
Privacy Officer
Rock the Vote

200 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20001