During her time at Brock, Amanda Tieber (BA \u201919, MA \u201920) studied voting technology and the electoral process. Now, the alumna is putting her learning and research skills into action.<\/p>\n
Tieber has begun work at Elections Ontario as a Policy and Strategic Planning Advisor, where she will lead, develop and conduct policy research, development and analysis for strategic, operational and program policy initiatives.<\/p>\n
She will also be the lead Research Co-ordinator for the Advisory Committee on Voting Technology and Voting Counting Equipment.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy role on the committee is to provide research and administrative support,\u201d says Tieber. \u201cThe creation of this committee correlates with my research interests and my current involvement with developing online voting standards, so I am eager to see the knowledge, research and recommendations for voting technologies that will surface as a result.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since completing her studies last year, Tieber has worked as a research associate on several electronic voting projects, examining use of secure voting in legislatures, municipal\u00a0deployment and adoption by First Nations, so she is well aware of the implications of using technology in elections.<\/p>\n
Tieber found her passion for online voting and her love for research while earning her Master of Arts (MA) in Political Science, and says that her time in the program will apply directly to her desired career path in politics.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only has the MA program provided me with the educational tools needed to be successful in this role, such as research methods, policy advising and interpreting legislation, but it has also provided me with the confidence to believe I can achieve my dreams,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Tieber says the program provided \u201camazing\u201d opportunities to build her networks. Working closely with faculty members allowed her and her colleagues to be personally mentored by experts in the field, she adds.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy supervisor, Associate Professor Nicole Goodman, provided me with the knowledge, tools and immense support that led me to this new role,\u201d says Tieber. \u201cI am incredibly grateful to work with such a supporting, cheering and experienced supervisor and mentor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tieber and Goodman recently presented together at the Canadian Political Science Association Conference, along with Aleksander Essex of Western University, sharing findings from an in-progress paper looking at voter confidence in technology based on experience with technical difficulties.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe paper leverages a unique natural experiment that occurred\u00a0in the 2018 municipal elections in Ontario when the voting system of one vendor slowed or stopped working in 43 communities, leaving voters unable to cast ballots,\u201d says Goodman. \u201cThe data is unique because you can’t replicate a real-life technical incident that could potentially compromise electoral integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although the team\u2019s findings are preliminary, there is strong evidence that the incident affected voters\u2019 satisfaction with, and feelings toward, online voting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe paper reviews survey data from online voters who voted before the technical issue and those who voted afterward, which makes it possible to assess whether voter attitudes were less positive after the slowdown,\u201d says Tieber. \u201cFindings are preliminary but show that voters who cast a ballot after the incident were less satisfied with the online voting system process and more likely to report concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goodman says she is \u201cincredibly proud\u201d of Tieber\u2019s many accomplishments.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmanda wrote an excellent major research project, which contributed to the scholarly literature and made actionable policy recommendations for local officials,\u201d says Goodman. \u201cAfter its completion, she published the results in a municipal publication to ensure her findings made it directly into the hands of stakeholders.\u201d<\/p>\n
Goodman adds that she looks forward to\u00a0publishing with Tieber in a scholarly journal and \u201ccontinuing to follow along as she achieves new heights\u201d in her career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am confident Amanda will be successful in her new role and I’m pleased that her master\u2019s degree in Political Science at Brock helped to prepare her for a position like this,\u201d says Goodman. \u201cAmanda’s story is a great one for any current or aspiring Political Science students, showing that with a positive attitude, hard work, determination, passion and mastery of critical thinking and research work, you can achieve a terrific career placement \u2014 even in uncertain times.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
During her time at Brock, Amanda Tieber (BA \u201919, MA \u201920) studied voting technology and the electoral process. Now, the alumna is putting her learning and research skills into action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":73293,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[119,188,55,1,4,38],"tags":[3333,9638,4104,607,522,5930],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73292"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73292"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73294,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73292\/revisions\/73294"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}