What we store

The first time you visit, we generate a random identifier — a string like 3f2b… with no meaning attached to it — and store it in a cookie that lasts a year, plus a copy in your browser's local storage in case the cookie gets cleared.

That ID is how we know one ballot from another without asking who you are. Unless you sign in, it isn't linked to a name, an email or a phone number, because we don't have any of those. Signing in links it to your account on purpose — that is the whole point of signing in.

The 25 teams you rank, the order you put them in, and when you submitted. Ballots are counted into the poll and kept for the season so the week-to-week trend can be worked out.

If you add a display name, it is published. Every submitted ballot gets a shareable page, and your name appears on it and on the image you share. Leave the field blank and the ballot reads “A fan” instead. Nothing else you give us is shown publicly — the one thing shown to a limited audience is your name inside a group you joined, covered below.

While you're still editing, an unfinished ballot is also saved in your own browser so you don't lose it. That copy never leaves your device until you save.

Which team you picked in each game, tied to the same device ID. That's all — no IP address is stored against a pick.

Signing in is optional. Voting and the pick'em work without an account and always will.

We use Google sign-in, and we ask Google for three things: your name, your email address and your profile picture. Nothing else — no contacts, no calendar, no Drive. We never see your Google password.

What gets stored: that name, that email, the web address of that picture; a session so you stay signed in for about six months; and the access tokens Google issues as part of the sign-in. Those tokens are kept by the sign-in library we use and are never used to read anything from your Google account.

When you sign in, the ballots and picks already on that device are attached to your account so they follow you to your other devices. If you had already voted in the same week on a different device, the more recently edited ballot is the one kept on your account and the other is simply left unattached — nothing is deleted.

A group is private and invite-only: the link is the only way in, and only members can see the table.

Inside a group, the other members see the name on your Google accountand your pick'em record for the season. Not your email, not your ballots, not anything from your other groups. If that name isn't one you want your group chat to see, don't join with that account.

Leaving a group removes you from its table. The group itself carries on without you.

When a ballot is saved we store a one-way hash of your IP address: it's run through SHA-256 with a secret salt, so the result can't be turned back into an address. It exists so that if someone floods the poll with fake ballots, that can be spotted afterwards.

It is never displayed, never shown to anyone, and never used to block you. Your actual IP address isn't stored anywhere.

The site runs on Vercel and the database is hosted by Neon. Both can technically see what they store and serve, the way any host can.

If you sign in, Google knows you signed in here, the same way it knows anywhere else you use it. We send them nothing about your ballots or your picks.

We pull schedules and scores from CollegeFootballData.com. That's outbound only — we ask them for game results, and nothing about you is sent.

Nothing is sold, and nothing is shared with advertisers. There are no analytics tools, no tracking pixels and no ad tech on this site at all. If that ever changes, this page changes first.

If you never signed in, clear your cookies and local storage for this site and the link between you and your ballots is gone — we have no other way to connect them to you.

If you have an account, email the address below and we'll delete it — the account, the session, what Google gave us, and your place in any group. Your ballots go back to being anonymous rather than being destroyed.

Ballots themselves stay in the poll count, because a poll you can retroactively remove votes from isn't a poll. If you want a specific shared ballot page taken down, email the address below and we'll remove it.

This is a college football poll, not a service aimed at children, and we don't knowingly collect anything from under-13s. Voting asks for nothing that identifies anyone. Signing in does involve a name and an email — if you believe a child under 13 has signed in, email the address below and we'll delete the account.

There is a season leaderboard anyone can read, and you are not on it unless you put yourself on it. Not listed, not ranked, not counted. Signing in doesn't add you; joining a group doesn't add you. Only joining the board adds you.

When you do join, you type the name it shows. We never publish the name on your Google account — this table is visible to strangers rather than to a group you chose, and a real name put in front of them isn't something you can take back. The board shows that name, your record and your points, and nothing else about you.

Leaving takes it straight back down. Your picks and your record are untouched; only the listing goes.

Anything new that would show more about you gets written here in the same release that ships it, not after. That is how the Google sign-in, the groups section and the leaderboard above all got here.

Questions or takedown requests: privacy@peoplespoll.app.