By Lorelei Talley

University of Maryland students are conflicted about their role in voting in the upcoming midterm election on Nov. 3, including the effort shown by this university’s outreach organization.

Nearly 50 million Gen Z voters are eligible to vote in 2026, but 44% don’t know where to start or don’t believe their vote matters, according to a Tufts University survey. Informational barriers largely factor into voting unfamiliarity, with 28% of Gen Z lacking information on politics. 

Branden Benavidez, a freshman mechanical engineering major, said UMD needs to be more proactive in helping students learn about voting.

“One thing that would get me to vote … [is] someone hollering at me like, ‘here go vote’… or actually guiding me through the voting process,” Benavidez said. “Because if I just receive an email like … ‘you are eligible to vote’, I’m not going to click on it.”

Multiple student organizations on campus advocate for civic engagement, including BridgeUMD, College Republicans, College Democrats and the Student Government Association. TerpsVote, a nonpartisan initiative at UMD, provides resources for students curious about their voting rights.

Sam Novey, the chief strategist at the University of Maryland Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement and member of the TerpsVote coalition, said it is the ambassadors and the university’s priority to answer any questions students may have about suffrage.

“Our educational institutions, our college universities, our K-12 institutions, they have a uniquely important role in American elections because all the new voters in the United States need support getting registered and ready to fully participate,” said Novey.

But some students, like Nia Kitching, a senior public policy major, say that UMD can do more to continue outreach and influence students who aren’t registered to vote.

“I know that the resources exist, but I don’t know how well the outreach is,” said Kitching. “[People] don’t feel like their voice or their vote will do anything. I think if UMD can change that belief, then I think [things would] change.”

TerpsVote offers several resources, including voting 101 workshops where students learn about the voting process, make a personal voting plan and explore what is on the ballot for mid-term elections. They also offer civic engagement-style courses to increase student voter education. 

Benavidez suggests that incentives, like giving students a day off on election day, can motivate people to get to the polls.

“I think one of the things they could probably do is set up a class or have a … voters meeting or something like a voter registry,” Benavidez said. “UMD could have a separate classroom, [and] everyone just goes in there and votes.”

Novey added that midterms are only one of the multiple elections that happen every year. In a 2025 “Voting Attitudes and Behaviors” report, 92% of this university’s juniors and seniors believed voting in state and local elections impacts their community, too.

Maya Cho, a junior government and politics major, said that voting is more than just going to the polls.

“If you don’t think voting is going to get you there, then find another course of action,” Cho said. “Whether it’s activism and educating yourself or helping out with campaigns.”

With midterms slowly approaching, campus organizations like TerpsVote plan to increase voter registration rates by 5% to reach 86.4% . Junior information science major Gianfranco Liendo said students curious about voting should get involved and do their own research.

“I feel like it’s important because, as a young voice, our voices are the most important for the future of this country and what we do,” Liendo said. “But also because I feel like we should vote for whatever we like.”

Featured Image: The outside of Somerset Hall at the University of Maryland. Photo by Anika Stikeleather.