Maryland Democracy Initiative Engages, Empowers New Voters in Advance of 2024 Election

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Maryland Democracy Initiative (MDI) is working with schools and colleges across the country to engage and educate new voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Led by experts in the University of Maryland College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, College of Education, Philip Merrill College of Journalism and School of Public Policy, the initiative and its community partners use research, inventive teaching and learning, and civic engagement to mobilize educators and youth voters in an effort to protect and strengthen democracy in the United States.

“The Maryland Democracy Initiative is uniquely positioned to support top scholars with highly relevant expertise from across disciplines, recruit top student talent and leverage UMD’s convening power to educate new high school and college-aged voters,” said Lena Morreale Scott, senior faculty specialist with the College of Education and MDI principal investigator.

Among MDI’s recent projects: developing the New Voters Collaborative – a research hub focused on registering, educating and mobilizing high school voters.

“Research shows that voting is habit-forming and that not voting is habit-forming,” said Michael Hanmer, government and politics professor and MDI co-principal investigator. “It also shows high schools are some of the most effective and equitable spaces to reach future voters. The New Voters Collaborative will help us track efforts to educate new voters in high schools, spark partnerships between organizations doing high school voter education and launch new research studying strategies that teach students how to vote.”

Other MDI efforts focused on welcoming and empowering new voters include:

• Laufer Democracy Interns - Eighteen UMD undergraduate students are working with organizations in the Students Learn Students Vote (SLSV) Coalition to increase student voter participation across the country, as well as with TerpsVote to encourage voting among fellow UMD students.

• Voter behavior analysis - Researchers are studying student participation in the 2022 elections and will use this data to support efforts to increase turnout in 2024.

• Voter registration

  • Launched a partnership with Calvert County Public Schools and Prince George's County Public Schools in Maryland to promote voter registration at high school graduations. MDI and the Maryland Civic Education Coalition designed graduation cards with information on how to register and vote. Nearly 3,000 graduates received cards in spring 2024.

  • Partnered with New Voters and the National Women's Foundation to provide voter registration information to recent graduates in Washington, D.C. high schools and others across the country.

  • Researching how high schools are incorporating voter registration and education programs into their activities.

• National High School Voting Summit - On July 8 at UMD, the MDI hosted leaders working to promote voter education in high schools across the country.

• National Student Vote Summit - From Nov. 20 to 22 at UMD, the MDI, TerpsVote and SLSV Coalition will co-host at least 350 participants from 65 colleges and universities and 62 nonprofits.

Created by a UMD Grand Challenges Impact Award worth up to $500,000, the Maryland Democracy Initiative strives to advance scholarship that addresses threats to democracy. More information about the initiative can be found at mdi.umd.edu.