Privacy

This site is run by two students for the union election. It is not official. Here is exactly what happens to what you send.

Your university ID

When you type your ID into the exit poll or noticeboard, your phone checks its format and then turns it into a scrambled code (a SHA-256 hash). Only that code is sent. Your actual ID never leaves your phone, and the page shows you the start of the code it sends.

To be straight with you: student IDs follow a known pattern, so someone with access to the server could, in principle, work out which ID produced a code by trying every possible ID. We designed the system so that knowing this would not tell them anything useful:

• Exit poll answers are never stored as individual responses. Each answer only adds 1 to running totals (for example, "Chairperson, candidate A, Civil, 2nd year"). There is no row anywhere that says "this person voted for this candidate".
• The code from your ID is stored only in a separate "already answered" list, re-scrambled with a secret key, with no answers attached. That list deletes itself a few days after the election.
• The poll, posts and reports each use a different secret key, so the same ID can't be matched across them.

Breakdowns by programme and year

Exit-poll results are shown by programme and by year only when at least 5 people in that group answered. Smaller groups are hidden so nobody can be singled out.

Noticeboard posts

Posts and comments are stored without your ID, name or any code linked to it. Post times are rounded to the minute. A post-cooldown record exists for about 10 minutes after you post, and then deletes itself. One honest limit: someone running the server who watched that cooldown list in real time, within those minutes, could narrow down who posted. We do not do that, and the system keeps no request logs that would let anyone do it later.

Your IP address

The site's code does not log IP addresses. Our hosting provider's firewall (AWS WAF) sees your IP briefly so it can slow down anyone sending hundreds of requests. If the "verify you are human" box is switched on, Cloudflare sees your IP while checking it.

What this site cannot promise

• The exit poll is whoever chose to answer. It is not a scientific sample, and determined people can try to game it. Treat it as a rough signal, not a prediction.
• The live count is typed in by hand from what is announced. Small delays and corrections happen. The returning officer's figures are final.

Questions or takedown requests

Use the report button on any post. Moderators check reports throughout the day.