‘Mobile-izing’ a New Generation to the Ballot Box

Campus pop-up helps register new voters and take the angst out of Election Day.

By Maggie Haslam | Maryland Today

When Amelia Twyman turned 18 last year, an unexpected birthday card arrived in her mailbox from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: an invitation to register to vote. 

She eagerly filed the paperwork before moving into her residence hall and starting classes at UMD in August as a journalism major. But as the days tick off to the November election, the first-time voter has a question even more urgent than who she’ll pick for the next commander-in-chief: Where does she cast her ballot? 

“I’m voting in the Pennsylvania election, but I’ll be in Maryland on Election Day,” she said. “I’m not really sure what to do.”

Now a roving, voting booth-shaped display on UMD’s campus is demystifying the process for new voters like Twyman. VOTE (Fearlessly)! is a nonpartisan pop-up designed to help Terps register to vote, understand the basics of Election Day and voting out of state, and share in conversations around the November 2024 general election.

The towering structure, which unfolds like a Transformer by day and lights up at night, was created by faculty, alums and students from the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation in partnership with TerpsVote, the College of Arts and Humanities, The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, the Maryland Democracy Initiative and UMD’s Arts for All initiative. The concept was inspired by “Design and Democracy,” a Spring 2024 creative placemaking course that developed engaging “social-spatial” structures and art to boost civic engagement on campus.

Read the full story in Maryland Today.