The VOTE (Fearlessly!) mobile pop-up helped students at the University of Maryland vote prior to and on election day.
The nonpartisan mobile pop-up was born during a Design and Democracy class as part of the creative placemaking minor in the UMD School of Architecture. Students explored ways that arts and design could activate students across campus who have historically been less engaged in voting.
“As an artist, designer and architect, I believe that we have a lot to contribute, both to conversations that are critical in our world, but also to help people process questions and build bridges with one another and come up with solutions,” professor Ronit Eisenbach said.
Representatives from Arts for All, TerpsVote, The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, the College of Arts and Humanities and the School of Architecture Planning & Preservation spearheaded the installation, collaborating to fund and design this pop-up ahead of the 2024 election.
The installation first debuted at NextNow Fest and was seen throughout campus at SECU Stadium and the STAMP food court. The booth offers diverse community resources to students, ensuring they have information on voter registration, the voting process and more.
Project designers aimed to reimagine the traditional approach of classroom presentations or tabling events by creating a more visible structure that the community would view.
“We know that students don’t vote because they weren’t able to get to their voting place, which to me means that they didn’t know how to find information about what their options are for voting,” TerpsVote Coordinator for Social Action and Democratic Engagement Naomi Cohen said.
According to a survey from the Campus Assessment Working Group distributed after the 2022 midterm elections, the top two reasons UMD students claim they do not vote are being unable to get to polling places and not having enough information to vote.
The VOTE (Fearlessly!) installation relies on peer-to-peer learning. Student ambassadors from across campus staffed the installation daily, answering questions and inviting Terps to make buttons explaining why they planned to vote.
Prior to the election, student ambassadors underwent training at the Prince George’s County Board of Elections to certify they were sharing accurate information with pop-up visitors and could answer students’ questions. The booth’s QR codes connected Terps to online resources that could answer questions before the election.
“The booth was really helpful for me as a first-time voter,” sophomore architecture major Chloe Aurelio said. “I wasn’t sure how to change my registration on election day, and after talking with the volunteer, I felt more comfortable going to vote.”
Eisenbach plans to continue the initiative’s work in the future, hoping to expand the current booth format.
Project designers are looking to make major improvements to the VOTE (Fearlessly!) prototype, hoping to create a more mobile project on wheels by the next election so it can be rolled around campus and seen by more students.
“We hope our Terp community will be engaged in the democratic process now and well beyond their time at UMD,” Kier said.