Retrievers vote in the 2026 midterm elections to help shape the nation’s next chapter
This year marks the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. And as November approaches, thousands of college students, including Retrievers, are taking the challenge to shape the next chapter of American democracy by learning about and voting in this year’s midterm elections—and staying civically engaged all year around.
“Midterm elections matter because decisions made at every level of government affect our lives, often in ways that receive little attention outside of presidential election years” says Trentqual Rhone, the coordinator for political engagement at UMBC’s Center for Democracy and Civic Life. “Elections are one of many ways we can participate in shaping our conditions, but political engagement shouldn’t begin and end with voting. We must also learn about the issues, policies, and systems impacting our communities, build relationships with one another, and work together to create the world we want to see. And that work is open to everyone, including those who don’t or aren’t eligible to vote.”
Events across campus this fall are helping Retrievers learn how they can register to vote—and why civic engagement matters, even if, like international students, they are ineligible to vote. One way students who can’t vote can get involved at UMBC is by participating in STRiVE, a five-day immersive leadership program that allows students to engage with the social and voting issues that are on the ballot and create change within UMBC.
Every vote matters
Mosses Kassa, a mechanical engineering sophomore, is excited to vote in a midterm election for the first time. “Everybody has the right to vote for their future, and every vote matters,” he says.
College students make up an important part of the voters, but participation rates show there is room for growth. According to Tufts University’s National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement, in 2024, 76 percent of college students were registered to vote, and 53 percent of all eligible college students voted in the presidential election.
The Center for Democracy and Civic Life is hoping to increase engagement through its Cast Your Whole Vote information sessions, resources, and events culminating in UMBC’s Election Night Extravaganza tradition, where the campus gathers for good food, games, and crafts as they follow the midterm election results. The center has been recognized nationally for increasing nonpartisan democratic engagement by promoting civic learning, political engagement, and college student voter participation. In 2026, UMBC once again earned the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge’s Highly Established Action Plan seal of recognition for its latest voter engagement plan.
It takes everyone
Beyond voting, there are a multitude of ways students can learn about civic engagement. Kassa was one of several Retrievers who attended the Spell Freedom: The Story of the Underground Schools that Built the Civil Rights Movement book talk at the Fine Arts Recital Hall in mid-October.
“You are the government, and you have to understand and use your right to vote,” said Elaine Weiss, the book’s author, to an attentive audience learning about the Underground Citizenship Schools project of 1954, where Black southerners prepared to pass the voter registration literacy tests. These tests were used to verify that prospective voters could read and write, however, they were really used as a way to exclude Black Americans by creating confusing and unanswerable questions.
Part of the test’s issue was also that the test giver chose which passage to give and often gave the most challenging ones, and there was no official answer key, leaving grading to be subjective. Through her research, Weiss found that when the Voting Rights Act was signed into law in 1965, over nine hundred citizenship school classes had been established, educating tens of thousands of Black citizens to read and write, demand their civil rights, and vote.
Weiss felt this sent a powerful message to students who don’t see themselves represented in government. Jayson Akinrinde, a mechanical engineering sophomore, who won’t be of voting age until the 2028 presidential election, believes that voting is a collective issue. “If everyone decides to get involved by voting for who they believe should be in office, then we can actually make a change and get the right people in office,” said Akinrinde, who also attended the Spell Freedom book talk.
However, sometimes the most powerful inspiration to get involved in elections comes from friends. Biological sciences sophomore Tiffany Lei is ready to vote in this year’s midterm elections thanks to fellow Retrievers who walked her through how to register to vote, where to vote, and how her voice and vote can create change. “My vote will always matter and contribute to the history of the United States,” said Lei.
By Caroline Wilson Sorensen, arts and culture intern for University Communications and Marketing. She is a sophomore English major who started having conversations with her parents about voting issues in high school and continues those conversations with her friends today.