What Shelby County Election Commission does

The Shelby County Election Commission (SCEC) is a county government agency operating under Shelby County Government in Tennessee, with statutory responsibility for administering all federal, state, county, and municipal elections across 166 precincts in Shelby County, which encompasses Memphis, Arlington, Bartlett, Collierville, Germantown, Lakeland, and Millington. Founded in 1979, the commission is led by Administrator of Elections Linda Phillips and is overseen by bipartisan Republican and Democratic commissioners who share control of ballot security through dual-lock systems. Its core operations encompass voter registration management, ballot design and certification, electronic poll book programming, poll worker recruitment and training (up to 1,600 temporary workers per Election Day), absentee ballot processing with Intelligent Mail Barcode chain-of-custody tracking, early voting site operations, and official results certification.

The commission's underlying technology stack centers on election administration hardware: electronic voting machines with optical scan ballot counting and audio ballot accessibility features, electronic poll books for voter check-in and duplicate-vote prevention, ballot-on-demand printers that produce district-specific absentee ballots, and isolated ballot programming computers kept off the internet for security. Accessibility accommodations include audio ballots for visually impaired voters and multilingual support. Distribution is delivered through two physical offices (157 Poplar Ave. downtown and the O.C. Pleasant Jr. Election Operations Center at 980 Nixon Drive), 166 Election Day polling locations, early voting sites, mail-based absentee voting, and digital channels including electionsshelbytn.gov plus active Facebook, X/Twitter, and Instagram accounts.

SCEC's business model is fundamentally government-funded: core election administration is financed through Shelby County tax appropriations, while a marginal secondary revenue stream comes from nominal fees charged to political candidates for optional services ($15 district maps, $40 voter lists with vote history in csv/xlsx, $18 voter lists without vote history). Poll workers receive set per-election compensation ($280-$390 plus $60 training stipend depending on role). The customer base consists of Shelby County registered voters (free services), political candidates (mixed free and fee-based), and temporary poll workers, all served under statutory mandate with no commercial competitors.

Name

Shelby County Election Commission

Legal name

Shelby County Election Commission

Website

https://electionsshelbytn.gov

Company type

Private

Founded year

1979

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Shelby County Election Commission is a Tennessee county government agency that administers federal, state, county, and municipal elections across 166 precincts in Shelby County, serving registered voters, political candidates, and poll workers under statutory mandate with publicly funded appropriations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Election Administration Services

NAICS

Other Justice, Public Order, and Safety Activities (922190)

akta.pro primary industry

City Clerk/Records, Elections & Civic Engagement (BPAIACAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Democracy, Voting Rights & Civic Participation Advocacy (BPAGAFAJ), Civic Education & Community Engagement (Voting, Local Government) (EDAAAFAC)

Keywords

• Election administration
• Voter registration services
• Ballot management
• Poll worker training
• Election results reporting

Headquarters

HQ city

Memphis

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Public Election Administration Services: Core government function funded by Shelby County tax revenues to administer elections, manage voter registration, train poll workers, and conduct elections.
2. Candidate Services Fees: Sale of district maps ($15), voter lists with vote history ($40 for csv/xlxs), and voter lists without vote history ($18) to political candidates. These are optional paid services.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

The Shelby County Election Commission administers all federal, state, and local elections within Shelby County, Tennessee. It manages voter registration, prepares and distributes ballots, operates polling locations, recruits and trains poll workers, processes absentee/mail-in ballots, and certifies and reports official election results.

Product overview

The Shelby County Election Commission provides government election services including voter registration management, election administration, poll worker recruitment/training, absentee voting, candidate filing, campaign finance reporting, voter district locator tools, and voter education programs. The commission operates the O.C. Pleasant Jr. Election Operations Center and manages elections across 166 precincts in Shelby County, Tennessee.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Voter Registration Services Allows eligible Shelby County residents to register to vote, update existing registration (name, address, party), and verify their registration status through in-person, online, and mail-based channels.
• Early Voting Provides in-person voting at designated early voting sites across Shelby County during the statutory early voting period before each election.
• Election Day Voting Operates polling places throughout Shelby County on Election Day, allowing registered voters to cast ballots at their assigned precinct using certified voting equipment.
• Absentee / Mail-In Balloting Enables eligible voters to request, receive, and return absentee/mail-in ballots for federal, state, and local elections, with processing and counting conducted by the Commission.
• Poll Worker Recruitment and Training Recruits, hires, and trains Shelby County residents to serve as poll workers (election officials) to staff polling locations during early voting and on Election Day.
• Election Results Reporting and Certification Tabulates, reports, and certifies official election results for federal, state, and local contests in Shelby County, including unofficial results on election night and certified results thereafter.
• Candidate Filing and Qualifying Processes filings, petitions, and qualifying paperwork for ballot-qualified candidates seeking federal, state, and local office in Shelby County.
• Polling Place Information and Lookup Provides voters with information about their assigned polling places, hours of operation, and directions through the Commission's website and printed materials.

Quantifiable outcome

• Administered Presidential Preference Primary and County Primary Election on March 5, 2024
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Others

• Election Systems & Software (ES&S): Largest US voting equipment and election management software vendor. Adjacent, enabling peer — provides the type of optical-scan tabulators, ballot-on-demand printers, and election management software that SCEC relies on for core operations.
• Dominion Voting Systems: National voting technology vendor offering tabulation, ballot design, and electronic poll book products. Adjacent enabling peer whose technology footprint overlaps with components of SCEC's election infrastructure.
• Hart InterCivic: Major US voting systems vendor providing tabulators, electronic poll books, and ballot programming systems. Comparable technology footprint to what SCEC deploys across Shelby County precincts.
• Tennessee Secretary of State — Division of Elections: State-level regulator that sets the framework within which SCEC operates and hosts the online voter registration portal used by Shelby County voters. Adjacent oversight and infrastructure peer.

Emerging players

• KNOWiNK: Provider of electronic poll book solutions widely adopted by US election offices. Directly comparable in providing the type of voter check-in and duplicate-vote prevention technology referenced in SCEC's infrastructure.

Direct peers

• Cook County Clerk's Office (Illinois): Elected-countywide office administering voter registration and elections for suburban Chicago. Operates at similar scale to SCEC with comparable poll-worker recruitment, early voting, and absentee operations across a large precinct network.
• Miami-Dade County Elections Department: County-level election administrator for one of the largest US counties by registered voters. Similar to SCEC in managing multilingual access, absentee-by-mail at scale, and a multi-hundred-precinct Election Day footprint.
• Harris County Elections Administrator's Office (Texas): Administers elections for Harris County (Houston), one of the largest US counties by population. Closely comparable to SCEC on precinct count, voting technology modernization, and high-volume cycle execution across primary, general, and municipal contests.
• Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk: Administers elections for the most populous US county with hundreds of precincts and millions of registered voters. Directly comparable to SCEC as a large-scale urban county election administrator with similar statutory authority, voting technology stack, and accessibility mandate.
• Maricopa County Elections Department (Arizona): Runs elections for the Phoenix metro area at county scale with comparable voting-equipment footprint, early-voting site network, and bipartisan administration challenges. Directly comparable to SCEC on operational complexity.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/shelbyvote
• Facebookfacebook.com/vote901
• Instagraminstagram.com/scecvote901
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/shelby-county-election-commission

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Shelby County Election Commission