Terms of Service

These Terms of Service (the “Terms”) govern access to and use of the WardAtlas website and API at wardatlas.com (the “Service”). WardAtlas is a product of Andy.Build (“WardAtlas,” “we,” “us”). By using the Service — including the keyless demo — you agree to these Terms, to the Acceptable Use Policy, and to the Privacy Policy, each of which is part of these Terms. If you use the Service on behalf of an organization, you represent that you can bind that organization, and “you” means the organization.

1. The Service

WardAtlas provides data about elected officials in the United States — who holds which office for a given location, with contact details, committee memberships, term dates, and per-field source citations — via a JSON API, together with district boundary matching and address geocoding. Data is compiled from public government sources and reviewed collection runs, as described in Data Sources & Attributions.

2. API keys and accounts

• Data endpoints require an API key. Keys are issued per organization; keep them confidential and do not share a key across unrelated organizations or products.
• You are responsible for activity under your key. If a key is compromised, tell us via the contact form and we will rotate it.
• We may suspend or revoke a key for violation of these Terms or the Acceptable Use Policy, for non-payment of agreed fees, or to protect the Service.

3. Plans, limits, and fees

• Each key carries a plan with a per-minute rate limit (published in the documentation). We may enforce limits technically, and may adjust plan limits with reasonable notice to affected key holders.
• The landing-page demo is strictly capacity-limited and is offered for evaluation only; it is not a free tier for production use.
• Paid offerings — paid plans and jurisdiction-activation engagements — are agreed in writing (including by email) before any charge. Fees are as stated in that agreement, exclusive of taxes, and non-refundable except where the law requires or the agreement says otherwise.

4. Your license to use the data

Subject to these Terms, we grant you a non-exclusive, non-transferable license to query the Service and to use, store, display, and serve the returned data within your own applications, websites, and services, including caching it for performance and freshness.

You may not:

• resell, sublicense, or redistribute the WardAtlas dataset, in bulk or substantial part, as a standalone dataset or data product;
• use the Service to build or seed a product whose primary purpose is to offer the same elected-officials data as a competing API or dataset;
• misattribute the data — you may not present WardAtlas data as verified by a source it did not come from, or strip source citations where your use presents the data as cited.

To be clear about what we do not claim: facts about who holds public office are not anyone's property, and much of our source material is public domain (see attributions). These Terms govern your use of the Service — the compiled, verified, and continuously maintained database and API — not your independent use of the underlying public sources.

5. Accuracy and disclaimers

Elected-officials data changes constantly — elections, resignations, appointments, redistricting, office moves. We work to keep the data current and every field carries its source and verification date, but the Service is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including accuracy, completeness, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

• WardAtlas is not a government service and is not an official source of election or ballot information.
• District matching depends on geocoding, which is approximate for some addresses; the API surfaces warnings (e.g. approximate_location) that you should honor.
• For legally significant uses — service of process, ballot petitions, statutory notices — verify independently against the official record.

6. Availability

We operate the Service with commercially reasonable care but do not promise uninterrupted availability, and no service-level agreement applies unless one is set out in a signed order. We may modify or discontinue features with reasonable notice to key holders.

7. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law: (a) neither party is liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or lost profits or revenues; and (b) our total liability arising out of the Service is limited to the greater of one hundred U.S. dollars ($100) or the fees you paid us for the Service in the twelve months before the claim arose. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so parts of this section may not apply to you.

8. Indemnification

You will defend and indemnify us against third-party claims arising from your use of the Service in violation of these Terms or applicable law, including any communications you send using contact data obtained from the Service.

9. Termination

You may stop using the Service at any time. We may terminate or suspend access for material breach, or with 30 days' notice for convenience (with a pro-rata refund of any prepaid, unused fees). On termination your license ends; within 30 days you must stop querying the Service and delete bulk copies of the dataset, except records you must keep by law and data already embedded in your published works.

10. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms; the “Last updated” date above reflects the current version. For material changes we will notify active key holders by email at least 14 days before the changes take effect. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

11. Governing law and disputes

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Michigan, excluding its conflicts rules. The parties will first try in good faith to resolve any dispute informally through the contact form or by email; failing that, the state and federal courts located in Washtenaw County, Michigan have exclusive jurisdiction, and both parties consent to venue there.

12. Contact

Questions about these Terms: wardatlas.com/contact.