Privacy policy
This policy explains what personal data PollGuard processes, why, and what rights you have. It is written to be read, not to be impenetrable.
Who we are. PollGuard provides election software to member organisations. Where your organisation runs an election on PollGuard, that organisation is the data controller for its member data and PollGuard acts as data processor on its instructions. For our own website and account data, PollGuard is the controller.
What we collect
- Account data — name, email address, phone number, organisation and role.
- Membership data — membership number, branch, membership status and eligibility.
- Identity and biometric data, where verification is used — identity document images and the data read from them, a selfie, liveness capture, and fingerprint enrolment where enabled. This is sensitive personal data and is treated accordingly.
- Election data — that you were eligible and that you cast a ballot, plus your ballot receipt.
- Technical data — IP address, device and browser information, and security logs.
- A phone identifier, in a scrambled form, when you register or verify your identity in the PollGuard Android app — see “One person per phone” below.
One person per phone
When you register or verify your identity in the PollGuard Android app, the app reads your phone’s DRM identifier (the identifier video services use to recognise a phone). Only a scrambled form of it leaves your phone, and PollGuard stores only a further scrambled form, never the identifier itself. We use it for one thing: to stop one phone registering several people. If a phone is already registered to another member, it cannot register a different person unless an officer of your organisation approves a genuine case, such as a shared family phone, with the reason kept on the record. We keep it while your membership is active and for two years after it ends, then delete it. It is not shared with anyone (your organisation sees only that a phone is already registered, never the identifier), and it is not used for tracking or advertising.
Why we process it
- To confirm you are a real, eligible member of the organisation holding the election.
- To let you vote, and to give you a receipt you can verify.
- To produce an accurate, auditable result.
- To keep accounts and elections secure and to detect abuse.
- To meet legal and regulatory obligations.
We do not sell personal data, and we do not use identity or biometric data for advertising or profiling.
Your ballot
Your ballot choices are kept separate from your identity in what is shown to administrators, and no administrator screen displays how an individual member voted. Please read the honest limitations set out on our security page so you understand precisely what this protection is and is not.
Sharing
We share data with the organisation running your election, and with service providers who host our infrastructure, deliver SMS, process payments and perform identity verification. They act on our instructions and are bound by contract.
Retention
Account and election records are retained while your organisation requires them for governance and audit purposes. Identity verification material is retained only as long as needed for verification and dispute resolution, then deleted.
Your rights
Under the Data Protection Act, 2019 you may request access to your data, correction of inaccurate data, deletion, restriction of processing, and you may object to processing or lodge a complaint with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner. You can export or delete your account data from your account settings, or contact us.
Contact
For any privacy question or to exercise your rights, contact us.