University of Maryland organizations, academic departments and community members are using a traveling pop-up display to spread awareness about voting and share information about the upcoming election.
The display, called “VOTE (Fearlessly)!,” opened on Sept. 4 in Tawes Plaza as part of NEXTNow Fest, according to Craig Kier, a music professor and the director of this university’s Arts for All initiative, which aims to tackle world challenges and foster dialogue using people-centered approaches.
Since then, the display has moved to several locations across campus, including SECU Stadium, outside Thurgood Marshall Hall and in the Heritage Community courtyard, Kier said.
The display itself is a tall, yellow and black tower that opens up to become a wide table where students can receive resources to help with the voting process, including on-site registration and polling location information.
“We wanted it to be also welcoming and to make people curious,” said Ronit Eisenbach, an architecture professor and the director of the creative placemaking minor.
[Here’s what is on the ballot in Maryland this November]
The nonpartisan pop-up also includes activities where students can create “I voted” stickers and buttons and a space for students to write what they are voting for in this election, Kier said.
Eisenbach co-taught a class last semester that sparked the idea for the display. She and her students drew inspiration from a similar initiative at the University of Michigan, she said.
The course’s final design, which is structured like a voting booth, was designed and created by Eisenbach and other professionals after its conclusion, she said. The group included students, faculty and alums, according to a public policy school news release.
“The purpose of it is to ensure that we’re inviting people into this process and hopefully welcome people into a space that they may have questions about,” Kier said.
The group worked with TerpsVote, a nonpartisan initiative at this university, to increase civic engagement and make the display as functional as possible, according to Kier.
Naomi Cohen, social action and democratic engagement coordinator at this university’s leadership and community-service office, said TerpsVote recruited 10 student leaders as ambassadors over the summer who operate the display.
The ambassadors work alongside students from other university organizations, such the American Civil Liberties Union chapter and the Asian American Student Union, Eisenbach said.
Lucian Jessel, a German, government and politics and international business major, is one of this year’s ambassadors. Along with helping students register to vote at the display, he has been giving presentations about voting to classes across campus, he said.
[Here’s how UMD students can vote in the 2024 elections]
“College students historically are very underrepresented in the voting pool,” Jessel said. “It’s really important that we’re the ones who have a say in the decisions that will be made that are going to affect our lives for the next 10, 20, 30 years.”
Evelyn Troy, the event’s coordinator for the ACLU chapter, said she was surprised to see how many students interacted with the booth.
“There’s a lot of misinformation about the election and voting in general,” the sophomore women, gender and sexuality studies and philosophy, politics and economics major said. “It’s important that students know their rights so that they can make informed decisions and they are able to exercise their right to vote in our democracy.”
Now that mail-in and online voting registration deadlines have passed in most states, the display is focused on ensuring voters have a plan for getting to the polls and providing information about measures and candidates on ballots, Cohen said.
The booth will remain in the Stamp’s food court until Election Day on Nov. 5, according to Kier.
In Maryland, residents are eligible to register for in-person voting on the day they go to the polls as long as they bring proof of address, according to the Maryland State Board of Elections.
