Certification FAQs

Certification from the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence recognizes your office’s commitment to excellence in election administration. It demonstrates that your office meets national, nonpartisan benchmarks for performance and transparency.

Alliance-certified election offices can:

• Strengthen operations by improving security, accessibility, and efficiency
• Build public trust through validated and transparent practices
• Earn well-deserved recognition for your team’s commitment to safeguarding our democracy
• Join an elite cohort of nationwide election offices working together to advance excellent election administration

Unlike other programs that certify individual election administrators, the Alliance certification program recognizes excellence at the office level — because we recognize that democracy is a team sport.

Instead of requiring classes or coursework, certification focuses on the great practices your office is already implementing. You’ll answer questions about how your office meets each Standard and demonstrate your work in action. You will never be asked to share confidential materials, live ballots, or protected personal information about your voters. 

Certification also emphasizes continuous improvement — celebrating your team’s achievements while helping identify opportunities to strengthen and grow. 

And, because we know how busy election offices are, the Alliance Certification Program offers flexibility. Your office can choose which Standards to pursue for certification, allowing you to chart your own path toward excellence based on your unique goals and needs.

The voluntary, nonpartisan Standards for Election Excellence define high performance for local election departments across key areas of U.S. election administration. The Standards were developed through a 36-month collaborative process that brought together 241 election officials representing jurisdictions of all sizes that collectively serve millions of voters nationwide, along with technologists, designers, and other experts. This process was grounded in consensus-building and shared learning, ensuring the Standards reflect both the real-world experience of local election offices and the latest insights from the field.

The development of the Standards also created space for peer exchange — helping election officials share best practices, challenges, and innovations with one another. That spirit of collaboration continued through our Pathfinder Cohort, where 50 election offices came together to test the certification application process, apply the Standards to their offices, and strengthen election administration across the country.

Yes! The Alliance Certification Program — along with all 26 of our Standards for Election Excellence — were designed to be scalable and flexible. Certification recognizes excellent election administration at every level, no matter the size or location of your jurisdiction.

We plan to make the full set of 26 Standards for Election Excellence available for certification after they have been tested by election officials. Be the first to know when new Standards become available by signing up for Alliance updates here.

We’ve structured pricing to meet election offices where they are. Application fees vary according to your jurisdiction size and are per Standard:

• Small tier (1-25,000 eligible voters): $150
• Medium tier (25,001-100,00 eligible voters): $200
• Large tier (100,001+ eligible voters): $250

Looking to certify across multiple Standards?

Prepaid bundles are now available! You can purchase four applications for the price of three — or, until May 26th, 2026, you can get our Pay for 7, Get 11 deal: all 11 Standards for the price of seven (sorry, no slushie included).

*The Alliance is using the 2024 Citizen Voting Age Population (CVAP) maintained by the U.S. Census Bureau to determine jurisdiction size for 2026 certification applicants.

Yes. To help election offices prepare for certification, the Alliance has developed user guides for each Standard. These guides outline the application steps, list the documentation you’ll need, and point to helpful, Alliance-vetted resources.
You can access the user guides here.

The timeline depends on the Standard you pursue and the completeness of your application materials, but most offices can expect to complete the certification process — from initial application to confirmation — in two weeks. On average, an election office can expect to spend about two hours completing an application. Then, the review process takes up to two weeks. 

Once you submit an application, your materials will be evaluated by a certifying body governed in accordance with ISO standard 17029 to ensure impartiality and minimize bias. If your materials, answers, and practices demonstrate that you have met the Standard in question, you will be certified. Offices that are not certified will receive detailed feedback, along with access to optional self-study materials and guidance on how to resubmit.

The Alliance certifying body seeks to ensure public confidence, transparency, and trust in its processes. Its full impartiality policy is available here.

Once your office is certified in a Standard, you’ll see a digital badge for that Standard on your home screen under your office’s certifications. You’ll also receive a paper certificate by mail within 1-2 weeks, which you can display in your office. Election offices that are certified in every Standard for Election Excellence will be awarded a commemorative plaque.

Certified offices are welcome to display their digital badge and use the phrase ‘Certified by the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence’ in public communications. We encourage certified offices to celebrate their achievement by sharing a press release that highlights your certification and your commitment to excellence. Sample press releases and an Alliance-branded digital toolkit will be made available to you once you achieve certification.

Yes, certifications are valid for three years. Renewal helps ensure that your office’s election administration practices reflect ongoing improvement as well as current best practices and insights from experts across the field.

If your office is not certified you will receive detailed feedback from the certifying body, along with access to optional self-study materials and guidance on how to resubmit.

You will be able to resubmit your application up to two more times. You must resubmit your revised application within a year of receiving your feedback.

Yes. You may appeal a specific certification decision. You can review the appeal policy and requirements here.

Yes. If you have concerns about any part of the certification process, we encourage you to contact us at support@electionexcellence.org so that we can resolve your concerns informally. 
If we are unable to resolve your concerns informally, you can submit a formal complaint by following the process outlined here.

Based on the scope, rigor, and impact of obtaining certification with the Alliance, the term certification most accurately reflects this program.

Since launching the Alliance, we’ve looked to the expert organization, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) for guidance on standard-setting and certification. Based on ANSI’s definitions, certification is more accurate for this program. 

Whereas accreditation confirms an entity has “appropriate competence,” certification “demonstrates that a product, service, system, process, or person meets (conforms to) specified requirements (e.g., international standards).” In other words, accreditation tends to focus more on baselines, and the Alliance is celebrating offices, rather than ensuring compliance with baseline practices. We also acknowledge that achieving the standards can look different for different offices, and there are many paths to administering excellent elections.