American Council for Election Technology

What American Council for Election Technology does

The American Council for Election Technology (ACET) is a national nonpartisan trade association established in 2022 to advance policies and programs supporting the use of election technology in U.S. elections. Headquartered at 1629 K Street NW in Washington, DC and organized under Virginia law, ACET serves as the unified industry voice for U.S. election technology providers, engaging federal and state agency officials, lawmakers, and federal bodies including the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The organization represents companies that supply ballot marking devices, tabulators, electronic pollbooks, voter registration systems, and election night reporting systems to state, local, tribal, and territorial government election jurisdictions across a market of more than 8,800 U.S. election jurisdictions.

ACET is not a technology vendor and does not sell software or hardware; its offering portfolio centers on policy advocacy and member-facing educational resources. Published assets include a 50-State Election Technology Protections Survey examining statutory tampering protections across seven categories of election technology, VVSG 2.0 implementation guidance and FAQs, a curated Federal Security Resources hub linking to CISA, NIST, and EAC materials, the ACET Glossary of Election Terms, myth-versus-fact educational sheets, an Election Systems Security one-pager, and an Election Technology Access Risk Resource Sheet. These resources are distributed through the techforelections.vote website, webinars (including Election Security Exchange), and conference presentations (notably at the 2025 NASED Winter Conference).

The organization's revenue model is membership dues, with two participation tiers: membership for organizations whose principal business is providing election technology products, services, or systems to governmental entities, and a broader partnership tier open to all election industry stakeholders. Specific dues pricing is not publicly disclosed. ACET operates with a small staff of 1-10 employees, is led by Executive Director Sara Cutter, and conducts outreach through LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), press releases, and industry publications. There is no commercial product, SaaS offering, API, or disclosed funding; the organization is governed independently with no parent company or external ownership stake.

Name

American Council for Election Technology

Legal name

American Council for Election Technology

Website

https://techforelections.vote

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The American Council for Election Technology (ACET) is a national nonpartisan trade association representing U.S. election technology providers. It advances policies supporting secure and accessible elections through federal agency engagement, policy advocacy, and member resources.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Washington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: ACET generates revenue through membership dues. Two levels exist: membership for organizations that primarily provide election supporting products, services, or technologies to SLTTs, and partnership available to all election industry stakeholders.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

ACET is a national nonpartisan trade association representing leading U.S. election technology providers. The organization advances policies and programs that support secure, accurate, accessible, and transparent elections by engaging agency officials and lawmakers, collaborating with industry partners and stakeholders, and producing educational resources such as a 50-state statutory protections survey, VVSG 2.0 standards guidance, security resource hubs, and an election administration glossary.

Product overview

ACET is a national nonpartisan trade association, not a technology vendor. Its offerings consist of policy advocacy resources, educational materials, and informational tools for election officials and stakeholders. The portfolio includes the 50-State Election Technology Protections Survey covering statutory protections across seven technology categories, VVSG 2.0 standards guidance, an EAC Hand Count Workload Calculator, the ACET Glossary of Election Terms, and various one-pagers on election security, accessibility, and technology access risk. There is no commercial product, software platform, or SaaS offering.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• ACET Membership

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerACET works with the EAC on Voluntary Voting System Guidelines (VVSG) 2.0 implementation. The EAC sets national voting system standards and ACET member companies pursue certification under these standards. ACET Executive Director presents industry updates at NASED conferences.
• Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerACET references CISA's election security resources and its security frameworks and guidelines that election technology providers follow. Partnership involves alignment with federal cybersecurity standards.
• National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerACET references NIST's security guidelines for election systems. Election technologies meet standards set by NIST as part of federal certification requirements.
• NASED (National Association of State Election Directors)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerACET Executive Director Sara Cutter presented an industry update on VVSG 2.0 at the 2025 NASED Winter Conference. ACET thanks NASED and the industry for their continued work in election administration and security.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Verified Voting: Nonpartisan nonprofit organization advocating for election security and verifiable election technology. Closely comparable to ACET in mission of advancing election technology policy, although it operates from an advocacy rather than trade-association structure.
• National Association of State Election Directors (NASED): Association of state election directors across the U.S. Operates in the same election administration policy space as ACET and has been a public engagement partner, but represents government officials rather than technology vendors.
• Election Center: National trade association for election officials and the election administration profession. Comparable to ACET in serving as a membership-based convener for election administration stakeholders and providing training and policy support.
• National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS): Bipartisan association of state chief election officials. Highly comparable to ACET as a membership-based organization engaged in election policy and standards, though it represents government officials rather than private technology providers.
• Center for Election Innovation & Research: Nonpartisan nonprofit working with election officials on election administration reform and technology. Shares ACET's focus on supporting secure and accessible elections and works with the same federal agencies (EAC, CISA).

Broad incumbents

• CompTIA: Large trade association for the global information technology industry. Comparable to ACET in operating as a membership-based advocacy organization for technology providers, but with a vastly broader technology scope.
• Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA): Trade association representing the software and digital information industry. Comparable to ACET in its membership-based advocacy model for technology vendors, although it covers a much wider portfolio of software companies beyond election technology.

Emerging players

• Election Protection Coalition: Nonpartisan voter protection coalition focused on ensuring all voters can cast ballots and have them counted. Operates in adjacent election-policy territory and engages some of the same federal actors as ACET, but from a voter-rights rather than vendor-advocacy perspective.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/tech_elections
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tech-elections

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about American Council for Election Technology