diff --git a/src/routes/postBranding.ts b/src/routes/postBranding.ts
index 1c5af13..1be7572 100644
--- a/src/routes/postBranding.ts
+++ b/src/routes/postBranding.ts
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ import { checkBanStatus } from "../utils/checkBan";
 import axios from "axios";
 import { getMaxResThumbnail } from "../utils/youtubeApi";
 import { getVideoDetails } from "../utils/getVideoDetails";
+import { canVote } from "../utils/permissions";
 
 enum BrandingType {
     Title,
@@ -55,6 +56,10 @@ export async function postBranding(req: Request, res: Response) {
         const hashedIP = await getHashCache(getIP(req) + config.globalSalt as IPAddress);
         const isBanned = await checkBanStatus(hashedUserID, hashedIP);
 
+        if (!await canVote(hashedUserID)) {
+            res.status(200).send("OK");
+        }
+
         if (videoDuration && thumbnail && await checkForWrongVideoDuration(videoID, videoDuration)) {
             res.status(403).send("YouTube is currently testing a new anti-adblock technique called server-side ad-injection. This causes skips and submissions to be offset by the duration of the ad. It seems that you are affected by this A/B test, so until a fix is developed, we cannot accept submissions from your device due to them potentially being inaccurate.");
             return;
diff --git a/src/routes/postCasual.ts b/src/routes/postCasual.ts
index 4e83d27..9a356c2 100644
--- a/src/routes/postCasual.ts
+++ b/src/routes/postCasual.ts
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import crypto from "crypto";
 import { QueryCacher } from "../utils/queryCacher";
 import { acquireLock } from "../utils/redisLock";
 import { checkBanStatus } from "../utils/checkBan";
+import { canVote } from "../utils/permissions";
 
 interface ExistingVote {
     UUID: BrandingUUID;
@@ -41,6 +42,10 @@ export async function postCasual(req: Request, res: Response) {
         const hashedIP = await getHashCache(getIP(req) + config.globalSalt as IPAddress);
         const isBanned = await checkBanStatus(hashedUserID, hashedIP);
 
+        if (!await canVote(hashedUserID)) {
+            res.status(200).send("OK");
+        }
+
         const lock = await acquireLock(`postCasual:${videoID}.${hashedUserID}`);
         if (!lock.status) {
             res.status(429).send("Vote already in progress");
diff --git a/src/routes/voteOnSponsorTime.ts b/src/routes/voteOnSponsorTime.ts
index 42fc54d..215119d 100644
--- a/src/routes/voteOnSponsorTime.ts
+++ b/src/routes/voteOnSponsorTime.ts
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ import { getVideoDetails, videoDetails } from "../utils/getVideoDetails";
 import { deleteLockCategories } from "./deleteLockCategories";
 import { acquireLock } from "../utils/redisLock";
 import { checkBanStatus } from "../utils/checkBan";
+import { canVote } from "../utils/permissions";
 
 const voteTypes = {
     normal: 0,
@@ -342,6 +343,10 @@ export async function vote(ip: IPAddress, UUID: SegmentUUID, paramUserID: UserID
     const nonAnonUserID = await getHashCache(paramUserID);
     const userID = await getHashCache(paramUserID + UUID);
 
+    if (!await canVote(nonAnonUserID)) {
+        return { status: 200 };
+    }
+
     //hash the ip 5000 times so no one can get it from the database
     const hashedIP: HashedIP = await getHashCache((ip + config.globalSalt) as IPAddress);
 
diff --git a/src/utils/permissions.ts b/src/utils/permissions.ts
index 330a41c..35a5ecd 100644
--- a/src/utils/permissions.ts
+++ b/src/utils/permissions.ts
@@ -45,4 +45,13 @@ export async function canSubmit(userID: HashedUserID, category: Category): Promi
                 reason: "We are currently experiencing a mass spam attack"
             };
     }
+}
+
+export async function canVote(userID: HashedUserID): Promise<CanSubmitResult> {
+    return {
+        canSubmit: await oneOf([isUserVIP(userID),
+            oldSubmitter(userID)
+        ]),
+        reason: "We are currently experiencing a mass spam attack"
+    };
 }
\ No newline at end of file