Maryland Hillel, through Hillel International’s MitzVote initiative, launched a voter mobilization competition to engage young people in advance of the upcoming 2024 presidential election.
“MitzVote is Hillel International’s non-partisan get-out-to-vote campaign to provide students with the education and resources they need to mobilize and vote in the 2024 election,” according to Hillel International’s Motivote website.
The competition is through an online platform called Motivote, where each Hillel chapter, as well as each individual student, has the opportunity to compete in an interactive and gamified election readiness process.
Liora Petter-Lipstein, a senior majoring in public policy, who serves as this campus’s MitzVote co-director, explained that it can be challenging for students to vote because navigating the voting process can be difficult and confusing.
“People want to vote. They know it’s important; it just needs to be easier and accessible. So, Motivote makes that easy and accessible,” Petter-Lipstein said.
Motivote simplifies the voting process by guiding users step-by-step, tailored to their state’s election system. After entering their address, users receive personalized instructions to help them prepare. These include choosing their preferred voting method—whether online or in-person—verifying their registration, requesting a ballot and exploring a ballot guide to make informed choices.
Jenna Heisman, Maryland Hillel’s social justice springboard fellow, who is overseeing the MitzVote program on this campus, is hopeful that the competitive aspect of Motivote will engage more students.
Users earn points for completing each of the election readiness steps. Individual users can enter raffles on the Motivote site to redeem their points for prizes, including Amazon gift cards. Maryland Hillel will also provide separate prizes, including stickers, tote bags and airpods, according to Heisman.
Each Hillel chapter is also competing against the various other chapters nationwide. As of Thursday, Maryland Hillel’s team is ranked third against the various Hillel chapters, with 49 members and 1,170 points.
In a Tuesday Instagram post, Maryland Hillel heightened the competition by announcing that Jewish student organizations can earn $150 for their group from Maryland Hillel if 80 percent or more of their members join the Maryland Hillel Motivote team.
Petter-Lipstein is hopeful that this incentive will broaden Motivote’s reach across the entire Jewish campus community, including Greek life, religious organizations, social action groups and other Jewish clubs.
“We’ve really been trying to reach as many different sectors of the Jewish community as possible,” Petter-Lipstein said.
Dahlia Newman, a sophomore majoring in psychology, joined Maryland Hillel’s Motivote team because she needed help changing her voter registration from Massachusetts, her home state, to Maryland, where she attends university now.
“I think it’s really helpful because it makes signing up and registering to vote very easy and I think it’s a great resource,” Newman said.
Maryland Hillel is also planning to expand the MitzVote initiative by recruiting student ambassadors who can be a resource for their friends and peers in the election process. Maryland Hillel already has 15 student ambassadors as of Tuesday, according to Heisman.
Risa Wagner, a senior majoring in history and Jewish studies, is a MitzVote ambassador and successfully encouraged 10 other students to join the Maryland Hillel Motivote team.
“The great thing about MitzVote is that it’s very streamlined and unbiased so anyone can learn how to vote and it’s a very easy process to understand as well, which is super helpful for new voters in college,” Wagner said.
