Board of Elections Supervisors

Board of Election Supervisors City Hall - Community Room May 2, 2024 7:00 p.m. Draft Minutes Member District Present Absent 1. Susan Huemmrich Mayoral X 2. M. Ruth Murphy 2 X 3. Yousuf Jaleel 4 X Departed at 7:30 pm 4. John Payne 3 X 5. Lynea Cooper-Pitts 1 X 6. (Vacant) Mayoral Also present: Yvette Allen, Assistant City Clerk; Sam Novey, UMD Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement; Tina Batten, Citizen; Ben Hovland, Citizen; Eden Binder, Diamondback; Emily Isaksson, UMD student; Moyukh Pan, UMD student; Selina Liu, UMD student; Joi Woods, Contract Secretary. I. Call to Order John Payne called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. II. Approval of the meeting agenda Susan Huemmrich moved to approve the meeting agenda as written. Yousuf Jaleel seconded the motion. All were in favor. None opposed. The motion passed. III. Approval of the April 4, 2024 Minutes Susan Huemmrich moved to approve the meeting minutes from April 4, 2024 as written. Yousuf Jaleel seconded the motion. All were in favor. None opposed. The motion passed. IV. Student engagement in municipal elections A. The board discussed strategies to increase student participation in municipal elections. The discussion focused on mitigating barriers for student participation, BOES campus access to support student voter awareness, and candidate access for campaigning. B. The BOES noted some of the adjustments made in an effort to increase student voter access and participation: 1) Early Voting on weekends 2) Using City Hall as polling place 3) Stamp Student Union was used as a polling place during the 2021 election. There was no increase in student election participation. C. Access to campus communication channels for election advertisements 1) The Diamondback has a reach of 25K followers on X (formerly Twitter) and 10K followers on Instagram. D. Policy on posting signs on campus, in dorms, at Stamp Union, and other strategic locations 1) Involvement is measured based on student voter turnout 2) 10-12% of registered voters show up 1  3) Most students are not registered to vote in College Park, 75% of students are MD residents E. Identifying permissible actions and procedural requirements for campaigning 1) Best practices to support student voter turnout from other college towns a. Mr. Novey noted there is more research related to student voter turnout and federal elections. There are three studies with campus media and municipal elections that showed significant impact on elections as a result of campus media. F. Identifying student voter turnout trends 1) Comparing student voter turnout with resident voter turn out 2) Identifying the population of students that are registered to vote 3) Voting preferences, some students prefer to vote in their home state because of the relevance of the issues presented a. Examining student perspectives on participation in municipal elections b. Assessing students’ awareness of candidates and ballot topics G. Potential solutions 1) Election timing 2) Changing the election date for the City Election to align with the State and Federal Elections 3) Redistricting that allows students to elect candidates of their choice 4) Establishing a City Registration System that would allow students with an official address in a different state to vote in municipal elections H. Lack of constituency in College Park 1) Examining historical voter trends 2) Establishing a Student Engagement Committee 3) Increased visibility for the Student Government liaisons for students and candidates 4) Reviewing data from other college towns to assess similarities or differences between student issues and election processes 5) Defining which students can vote and developing a registration system that accommodates students voting in College Park municipal elections without having to change their voter registration. V. 2024 Upcoming Meetings: A. The BOES discussed meeting dates for the remainder of the year. Meeting dates include June 6, 2024; July 15, 2024; August 1, 2024; September 5, 2024; October 3, 2024; November 7, 2024; December 5, 2024. VI. Adjournment Ruth Murphy moved to adjourn the meeting. Susan Huemmrich seconded the motion. All were in favor. None opposed. The motion passed. The meeting adjourned at 8:37 pm. 2