‘Our Democracy is in Very Good Hands’

Students Celebrate Successful Summer Internships at Voter Education and Mobilization Nonprofits

From helping to organize a town hall for Vice President Kamala Harris to programming a Spanish voter ID chatbot and recruiting dozens of new poll workers on campus, University of Maryland students found new ways to engage politically this summer, just months before a critical presidential election.

The 18 undergraduates in the inaugural cohort of the Laufer Democracy Internship Program, funded by Marsha Zlatin Laufer ’64 and Henry Laufer, worked for nonprofit organizations such as Pizza to the Polls, Vote Early Day and the Campus Vote Project. On Wednesday, they shared their experiences with community partners, faculty and staff, and fellow interns at the Adele H. Stamp Student Union.

The complicated web of U.S. voting regulations may intimidate those thinking about casting a ballot for the first time, so, “it’s critical that we engage some of the most talented students at our university and work with the leading coalition in the country to engage with colleges to welcome new voters,” said Sam Novey. He’s the chief strategist for the Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement and leads the internship program that was developed in partnership with the Students Learn Students Vote Coalition and the Maryland Fellows Program.

The program is part of the nonpartisan, interdisciplinary Maryland Democracy Initiative (MDI), funded by a Grand Challenges Impact Award, which combines expertise from the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, College of Education, Philip Merrill College of Journalism and School of Public Policy to encourage civic participation and tackle threats to democracy.

Photo by Riley N. Sims

Published on Fri, Aug 9, 2024 - 10:48AM