When choosing an online voting provider, data security and privacy are non-negotiable especially in higher education, where institutions must evaluate technology partners with exceptional care. That’s where HECVAT comes in.
The Higher Education Community Vendor Assessment Toolkit (HECVAT) is a standardized security questionnaire designed to help colleges and universities assess the risk, security posture, and privacy practices of third-party vendors.
At Simply Voting, we know how important it is for universities to trust the systems they rely on for student elections, faculty votes, governance decisions, and more. Hundreds of universities already trust us with their election. That’s why we make our completed full HECVAT questionnaire available to your institution upon request.
What Is HECVAT?
HECVAT is a comprehensive vendor security assessment tool developed and maintained by the Higher Education Information Security Council (HEISC).
It enables institutions to evaluate how well a technology provider protects sensitive data and manages security risks.
This standardized template typically includes hundreds of questions across multiple areas, such as:
- Security & Governance: Policies, risk management processes, incident response, security roles, and organizational controls.
- Data Protection & Privacy: Encryption, data storage, data retention, handling practices, and compliance with privacy standards.
- Access & Identity Management: Authentication controls, authorization, MFA support, password policies, and access governance.
- Application & Infrastructure Security: Secure development practices, vulnerability management, network protections, and hosting safeguards.
- Business Continuity & Compliance: Backups, disaster recovery, uptime commitments, SOC 2 or other certifications, and legal/regulatory compliance.
How Universities Use HECVAT
Universities typically ask each potential vendor to complete a HECVAT so they can compare their security practices on equal footing.
To make your evaluation easier, Simply Voting has already completed a full HECVAT and can share it immediately upon request.
Your institution can then:
- Review each section of the assessment
- Compare multiple vendors on objective, consistent criteria
- Validate that Simply Voting meets your security, privacy, and compliance requirements
This greatly simplifies vendor evaluation during procurement, IT security reviews, or risk assessments.
In Summary
HECVAT gives universities a clear, consistent, and transparent way to evaluate online voting vendors. It helps streamline your research process, ensures compliance with internal security policies, and supports confident decision-making when selecting an online voting platform.
If your university would like a copy of Simply Voting’s completed HECVAT, please contact us here or schedule a discovery call. We’ll be happy to provide it and guide you in your onboarding process.
