Cookie Policy

1. What Cookies Are

Cookies are small text files that a website places on your device — laptop, phone, or tablet — when you visit. They allow the site to recognize your device on subsequent visits, remember preferences, measure how the site is being used, and (in the case of advertising cookies) help advertising networks decide which ads to show you.

“Cookie” is the most common term, but several similar technologies serve the same purposes — local storage, pixel tags, web beacons, and software development kits in mobile contexts. This Cookie Policy applies to all of them collectively.

2. Categories We Use

The cookies on secretary-of-states.org/ fall into four categories. The first is essential to the Site working at all. The other three are non-essential and can be disabled.

3. Specific Cookies on This Site

The list below covers the cookies you are most likely to encounter on the Site. Cookies set by third parties may change from time to time as advertising and analytics services evolve; this list is updated periodically and represents our current understanding of common cookies on the Site.

4. Third-Party Cookies

Some cookies on the Site are set by third parties whose services we use. These third parties have their own privacy practices, which apply to data they collect through cookies. Key third parties on the Site include:

• Google AdSense / Google Ads — advertising. policies.google.com/privacy
• Google Analytics — web analytics. policies.google.com/privacy
• Cloudflare — content delivery and security. cloudflare.com/privacypolicy

5. Session vs Persistent Cookies

Cookies are also classified by how long they last on your device:

• Session cookies are deleted when you close your browser. They are typically used for security and basic functionality during a single visit.
• Persistent cookies remain on your device for a defined period (a day, a month, two years) and are read on subsequent visits. They are used for analytics, advertising, and remembering preferences.

6. Consent Management

How we ask for and respect your cookie consent depends on where you are visiting from.

6.1 California (CCPA / CPRA)

California residents have the right to opt out of the “sale” or “sharing” of personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising. The use of advertising cookies on the Site may be considered “sharing” under CPRA. You can opt out by:

• Using the “Your Privacy Choices” link in our cookie banner
• Using the Global Privacy Control (GPC) browser signal, which we honor as a valid opt-out
• Emailing info@secretary-of-states.org with subject “California Privacy Request”

6.2 Other US State Privacy Laws

Residents of Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, Texas, Oregon, Montana, and other states with privacy laws have similar rights. Use the same channels above with your state name in the subject line.

6.3 GDPR / UK Visitors

For visitors from the European Economic Area or United Kingdom, non-essential cookies are set only after you provide consent through our cookie banner. You can withdraw consent at any time by clearing the cookie or revisiting the banner.

6.4 Other Visitors

For visitors outside the jurisdictions above, we operate under the legal-bases-applicable-to-our-host-jurisdiction defaults. You retain the right to control cookies through your browser at any time.

7. Browser Controls

Every modern browser provides controls to view, accept, block, or delete cookies. Below are direct links to the cookie management documentation for the most common browsers. Settings can be applied per-site or globally.

• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox
• Apple Safari (macOS)
• Apple Safari (iOS)
• Microsoft Edge
• Opera
• Brave

You can also use private or incognito browsing modes, which typically discard cookies when the window closes.

8. Industry Opt-Out Networks

Several industry bodies maintain consolidated opt-out tools that let you opt out of personalized advertising across many networks at once. These are useful in addition to (not as a replacement for) browser controls.

• Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) — optout.networkadvertising.org
• Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) — optout.aboutads.info
• Your Online Choices (Europe) — youronlinechoices.eu
• Google Ads Settings — google.com/settings/ads
• Google Analytics Opt-out — tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

9. Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control

Browsers offer two related signals that websites can choose to respect:

• Do Not Track (DNT) is an older browser preference. There is no industry consensus on how websites should interpret DNT, and we do not currently respond to it. We recommend using the GPC signal or the explicit cookie controls in this policy instead.
• Global Privacy Control (GPC) is a newer browser-level signal designed to communicate a privacy preference to websites in a machine-readable way. Where required by law (notably California’s CCPA/CPRA), we honor GPC as a valid opt-out request from “sale” or “sharing” of personal information.

10. Mobile Device Controls

Mobile operating systems offer additional controls beyond browser-level cookie management:

• iOS / iPadOS — Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking, and Settings > Privacy & Security > Apple Advertising. Apple guidance
• Android — Settings > Google > Ads (older devices) or Settings > Privacy > Ads (newer devices). Google guidance

You can also reset or limit your advertising identifier on both platforms, which substantially reduces personalized advertising across apps.

11. Changes to This Cookie Policy

We update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the cookies we use, applicable law, or the third-party services we work with. The “Last Updated” date at the top of the page indicates when the most recent revision was made. Material changes will be highlighted with reasonable prominence.