Civic duty in action

With Election Day fast approaching, the Montgomery Board of Elections needs all the help it can get. And several University of Dayton students are here to serve.

The program, which takes students studying management information sciences and connects them with the Montgomery County Board of Elections, has been going on for two years, with the Nov. 5 election being their fifth partnership. On election night, students will compile voter data collected from “poll pads” across the county and send the results to Columbus, all while ensuring every voter’s data is secure.

“We needed some extra help for our cybersecurity. We were trying to think of new ways to get some assistance, so I reached out to the University to try and give some students some real-life experience,” said Jeff Rezabek ’91, director of the Montgomery County Board of Elections.

MIS professor David Salisbury talked to his students about the opportunity, said junior Charles Gardner. Gardner compiled voter data in May and is planning on doing so again for this election. He said working with the board of elections has helped him feel closer to his community. 

“I think it’s a great opportunity to service the Dayton community as well as ensure the integrity of the elections,” he said. 

Gardner noted that data security is not necessarily something everyone thinks of at the voting booth — scanning a personal ID or inputting an address — but it plays a vital role in his work on Election Day.

Gardner said seeing how the entire process works is motivating. “I know it’s secure and they’re doing it the right way,” he said.

By working in such a fast-paced environment on election night, students are learning how to overcome multiple challenges.

“You are always dealing with a new group of people, there is always a different process that we go about getting everything sent off,” Gardner said. “It’s always an interesting experience learning what everyone wants to do there.”

But, Rezabek said, one of the most difficult things for college students to grasp is that it can’t matter to them who wins. 

“We do it bipartisan. More importantly, [we] are not focussed on what party,” Rezabek said.

“We’re really focussing on how to get the data out and how to get it best presented.”

Rezabek has shared his success working with students with other counties. 

“They know what they're doing, they're on top of it and they really help us in taking care of an important step in getting the election information out to the public,” he said.

While the program is still relatively young, it offers experiential learning benefits to the students who participate, Rezabek said. Perhaps the biggest one is real-life experience. 

“As IT people, [students] aren’t just sitting at the computer doing programming. It's probably fairly simple stuff for them, but it gives them the opportunity to see [professionals] in real life, he said.”

For Gardner, the benefits go beyond just having experience. 

“I think [it] points to me being able to vote and know that my vote is secure,” he said. “Upholding that for the city of Dayton, Montgomery County, the state of Ohio, and with this November election, the United States, it’s a great experience for me.”