Your information and your choices

Policy updated October 9, 2026

Pollside lets people read and share firsthand election-related experiences. Public reading does not require an account. Submissions are private until a human moderator publishes them.

Who operates Pollside

Pollside is operated by Lakshmi Umesh as an individual. For account or content support, contact support@pollside.app. For privacy requests, contact privacy@pollside.app.

Information we handle

• Account: your email address, authentication identifiers and session information. Your email is not included in public reports. Your chosen pseudonym, published contributions and participation information can be public.
• Contributions: the text, selected photo or video, manually entered area, experience category and optional self-reported wait you provide; submission/publication timestamps; media processing status and file/provenance information where available. A publication timestamp does not establish when an event happened. We do not ask for ballot choices, voter-registration numbers or identity documents.
• Safety and support: reports, private notes, blocks, moderation decisions and messages you send to support. A report or block list is not published. Moderators can review private submissions and safety reports.
• Technical information: service requests, IP addresses and operational/security logs handled by our hosting, authentication, email, media and map providers. Sessions and owner-bound drafts may be kept in protected device storage; the website uses authentication cookies or local storage.

Photos, videos and location

We upload only the file you deliberately select and authorize for private upload. Choosing or previewing a local file does not upload it. Pollside does not scan your library. The current app uses Photo Library selection, not an in-app camera or microphone recording feature. Uploaded media may be transformed for delivery; a displayed derivative is not the original file. Provenance information, when present, is context and does not prove that content is true or false.

You can browse an area manually. On iPhone, location is requested only when you tap “Use my location” to move the map nearby. Pollside does not store that coordinate in your contribution or run background location tracking. Map requests reveal the viewed area and network information to Mapbox. Pollside turns optional Mapbox telemetry off when opening a map. Mapbox’s attribution menu includes a telemetry choice you can change. Mapbox may process device identifiers, location or viewed-area information, usage and performance information for map functionality and analytics. These controls do not eliminate provider network, security or billing records.

Why we use this information

We use it to authenticate you, maintain your profile and submissions, process selected media, conduct human moderation, show approved Community Reports with their source context, respect blocks, handle safety/support requests, prevent misuse and complete withdrawal or deletion. Pollside is independent and is not an election authority or emergency-response service. Verify official voting information with the relevant authority.

Providers and disclosure

Supabase provides authentication and the application database. Resend delivers account emails. Replit hosts the web/API service. Cloudflare Images and Stream store and deliver selected photos and videos. Mapbox supplies maps. These providers process the information needed for their services and may operate in countries other than yours. Their infrastructure and security logs follow their applicable service terms. We do not sell your personal information or use advertising SDKs or cross-app tracking. Pollside-operated application analytics are disabled in this release; provider map and media services may process usage and performance information for their functionality and analytics. We receive and use Apple Xcode and TestFlight crash reports to diagnose app problems. These reports may include device identifiers.

New AI generation and contribution AI processing are disabled in this release. Previously published Election Pulse stories retain their preparation, source and human-review disclosures. Contributions are not sent to TypeSafe AI or Jev. A previously saved AI permission can be revoked in Account/Settings. Activating contribution AI processing would require an updated disclosure and an explicit consent flow; human publication review would remain mandatory.

Human review and availability

Human moderation is staffed daily from 7 AM to 10 PM Pacific Time, following America/Los_Angeles local time and daylight-saving changes. Submissions remain private until reviewed and deliberately published. Items received outside these hours wait for the next staffed period. Review time depends on the queue and information needed; a support response target is not a guaranteed deadline.

What becomes public

A moderator deliberately publishes approved wording and eligible media under your pseudonym with area, time and provenance context. Published pages and share links are available to people who are signed out. Moderation does not establish authenticity, illegality or how anyone voted. Do not submit another person’s private information. Read the community rules before contributing.

Retention, withdrawal and deletion

Account and submission records remain while needed to operate your account and review content. Unsubmitted media drafts are retained until removed through account deletion or scoped operational cleanup; this release does not promise automatic draft expiration. Withdrawing a contribution removes it from Pollside’s public projections and canonical page, but retains the private record for review. It does not delete your account.

Account deletion requires a fresh email verification code. Pollside removes owned provider assets before completing removal of the account, profile and contributions. A failed cleanup is reported as unconfirmed deletion. Blocking changes what your signed-in viewer sees; it does not remove content for everybody. Withdrawal/deletion closes new Pollside public media access. A previously issued video access token can remain valid for up to 120 seconds. Copies, downloads, browser caches or screenshots already saved by recipients cannot be recalled.

Encrypted recovery exports and provider backups can retain earlier records under restricted custody. They are not public or used to restore a deleted account to ordinary service. If a recovery restores older data, deletion and withdrawal exclusions must be reapplied before serving it. We do not promise immediate erasure of every provider security log or backup copy.

Your controls and contact

Account/You → Settings lets you change your pseudonym, manage blocks, revoke saved AI permission, sign out and request deletion. My submissions lets you withdraw eligible contributions. You can decline Photos or location access and continue public reading or text contributions.

For privacy requests, email privacy@pollside.app. For account or content help, use Pollside support. Include a public reference if relevant; never send verification codes or passwords. Requests must be verified before private account information is disclosed. Pollside is not designed specifically for children; do not post identifying information about children.

Changes

We will update this page and its effective date when handling changes. Material new uses that require permission will be presented before activation.