Southeast students to participate in e-voting audit

Starting today, Southeast Missouri State University students can begin tackling questions on social issues, health care and smartphones in the voting booth, said Dr. Jill Young, an instructor at the Donald L. Harrison College of Business.

While not part of an actual election, this is a chance for students to participate in a statistical pilot project focused on auditing election outcomes calculated with e-voting machines, according to a news release from the university.

Two Diebold machines on loan from Henry M. Adkins & Son Inc. were set up Thursday in a temporary election technology laboratory in the Student Government office in the University Center's room 204, the release and Young said.

Voting starts today and closes at 5 p.m. Tuesday for Thanksgiving break. Because Student Government members are monitoring the polling stations, voting will resume after the holiday. Voting is open to the entire student body, Young said.

State election officials can loan out the voting machines, but the Cape Girardeau County clerk "put us in touch with the vendor," Young said.

"These machines are in their spare inventory, so we can hang on to them until they're needed. We should have them through the semester," she added.

Young said Henry M. Adkins & Son often lends voting machines to schools, and that prompted her to research questions typically asked in these trial runs. Usually, it was "what kind of programs do you like" at this university.

"Those questions were boring," Young said, so she queried students and faculty to see what they wanted to know. The result was 11 questions on everything from the effect of social media on interpersonal communication to the Affordable Care Act.

This is the first time Young has tried a project like this. Her doctorate is in information systems, with a specialty in electronic voting systems. In the 2010 election cycle, she followed the process through Election Day to the postelection audit. She conducted her research in St. Louis County, Mo.

She said young people tend to vote electronically, as opposed to with paper ballots. "So once again we need to move toward electronic voting. In European countries, they actually do online voting; not everyone cares to do online voting; we're not trying to replace anything, but we're trying to make sure we give everyone a chance to participate in democracy as they wish," Young said.

Young's spring business statistics class will analyze the voting results and explore auditing processes while developing statistical knowledge, the release said. She said the project will involve about 120 students.

Participants will develop statistical techniques and use spreadsheets to summarize raw voting data and consider interpretations of the information, the release said. Working in small groups, students will analyze the data and explore auditing processes, Young said in the release, then use sampling techniques to audit election results produced manually.

At the end of the spring semester, students will present their findings as part of a final class project, and the top three groups will present their findings at a forum, the release said. Missouri election officials will serve as consultants to students and will be invited to participate in the forum, the release said.

Asked whether results would be released, Young said it depends on the participation level. She's trying to get the word out by notifying campus groups and getting an item posted on the MySoutheast campus portal on the university website.

"I think it's a great learning tool for students. I would assume most students here don't vote electronically," said Michele Irby, director of Campus Life and Event Services. "I'm excited to see what feedback we get from students."

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