Terms of Service

Plainvote LLC. Last updated August 3, 2026.

These terms govern the hosted Plainvote service operated by Plainvote LLC. By creating an account or using the service you agree to them. The open-source voting engine itself is licensed separately under AGPL-3.0; these terms cover the hosted service, not the code.

What the service is, and is not

Plainvote runs online elections for organizations: associations, cooperatives, boards, societies, and similar bodies. It is designed for low-coercion organizational elections and is not offered for binding public or governmental elections. Results are published to a public, tamper-evident record that anyone can independently recount. We publish an honest account of what the system protects and what it does not; you should read it before relying on the service for a contested vote.

Your account and your voters

Sign-in links are sent to your email address; keeping that mailbox secure is your responsibility. You must have the authority to run the election you set up and the right to upload your members' names and email addresses and to have voting invitations sent to them. Voting codes are bearer credentials: your organization decides who belongs on a roll, and we act on your instructions.

The public record is permanent

When you publish an election, its title, questions, schedule, roll size, and every ballot cast (under anonymous keys) become part of a public, replicated, append-only record. This cannot be undone, edited, or deleted, by you or by us. That permanence is what makes results independently verifiable. Do not publish an election, or include text in one, unless you are prepared for it to be public forever.

Prices and payment

Every price is shown before you commit, and paid elections are charged once, at publication, through Stripe. If you cancel an election before any voting codes have been sent, we will refund the payment in full on request. After codes have gone out, the delivery work has been done and refunds are at our discretion. Elections above the published self-serve limits are arranged and priced as Managed engagements before payment.

Fair use

Do not use the service to break the law, to impersonate an organization you do not represent, to send mail to people who have no relationship with your organization, or to attack, probe, or overload the service or its record-keepers. We may suspend accounts that do. Public read access to the record for verification is not only permitted but encouraged.

What we promise, and the limits of it

We work to keep the service available and correct, and the engine that counts ballots is open to inspection. Beyond that the service is provided as is, without warranties. We are not a party to your election: we do not certify outcomes, resolve disputes among your members, or guarantee turnout. To the fullest extent the law allows, Plainvote LLC's total liability for any claim arising from the service is limited to the fees you paid us for the election concerned, and we are not liable for indirect or consequential damages. Nothing here limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited.

Ending things

You can stop using the service and ask us to delete your account data at any time; entries already on the public record remain, as described above. We may terminate accounts that violate these terms. Sections about the public record, payment, and liability survive termination.

Housekeeping

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Wyoming, where Plainvote LLC is organized, without regard to conflict of law rules. If we change these terms materially we will notify account holders by email and update the date above; continued use after notice is acceptance. If part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest still applies. Questions: [email protected].