Privacy policy
This policy explains what information Hamilton County collects through this website and how it is used. The short version: we collect only what you send us through forms plus routine technical data, we don’t use advertising or tracking cookies, and we never sell your information.
Information we collect
- Form submissions. When you contact a department, file a Freedom of Information Act request, or submit a community event, we collect what the form asks for — typically your name, email address, and message, and for FOIA requests optionally a phone number and mailing address. Submissions go directly to the responsible county office.
- Server logs. Like nearly every website, our servers record standard technical information (such as IP address, browser type, and pages requested) used for security and to keep the site running.
How we use it
We use your information only to respond to your request and to operate and improve this site. We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for advertising.
Analytics
We use Vercel Web Analytics to understand how the site is used — for example, which pages are visited most. It is cookie-free and anonymous: it does not use cookies, does not track you across other websites, and produces only aggregate statistics that cannot identify you individually.
Cookies and browser storage
- We do not use advertising or tracking cookies.
- Your browser’s local storage remembers small preferences on your own device — for example, that you dismissed a public notice or acknowledged our privacy banner. Nothing in that storage identifies you, and it is never sent to us.
- Pages with a form use reCAPTCHA for spam protection (see below), which may set a cookie on those pages strictly for security purposes.
Spam protection (reCAPTCHA)
Our contact, FOIA, and community event forms are protected by reCAPTCHA, which helps distinguish people from automated bots. It runs only on pages with a form, and the information it processes is used solely for security, fraud, and abuse prevention on behalf of the county — not for advertising.
How form submissions are delivered
Form submissions are stored on a county-managed content system and delivered to county staff by email through a third-party email delivery service acting on the county’s behalf. These providers process your submission only to deliver it — they do not use it for their own purposes.
Third-party services
Some services — tax payments, court records, and mapping — are hosted by outside vendors. When you follow a link to one of these services, that vendor’s privacy policy applies. We identify the vendor by name before you leave this site.
Social Security numbers
Please never include a Social Security number in a website form. Hamilton County protects the confidentiality of Social Security numbers as required by the Illinois Identity Protection Act (5 ILCS 179); if a county office needs one, it will collect it through a secure process and tell you the purpose for which it is collected.
Public records
Hamilton County is subject to the Illinois Freedom of Information Act (5 ILCS 140). Information you submit to the county may itself be a public record.
Contact
Questions about this policy may be directed to the County Clerk’s Office at (618) 643-2721 or coclerk@hamiltoncountyil.gov.
Updates
This policy was last updated on August 6, 2026. If we make a material change, we will show the site-wide privacy notice again.