Maryland Today Spotlights Vet the Vote
The University of Maryland’s Maryland Today profiled Vet the Vote this week, tracing how the initiative grew from an idea of UMD alum and Marine Corps veteran Ben Keiser into a national effort that has recruited over 170,000 veterans and military family members to serve as poll workers.
The story centers on Navy veteran Lauren Symmes, a three-time poll worker in Anne Arundel County who first signed up after a Naval Academy classmate shared a Vet the Vote post on Facebook. Today she’s preparing to serve as an election judge again in the 2026 midterms, and she sees the work as a natural extension of the discipline and attention to detail she built in uniform.
“I’m still defending the Constitution, just in a different capacity.”
— Lauren Symmes, Navy veteran and poll worker
Before her Maryland Today feature, Lauren shared with us why she first raised her hand to serve as a poll worker and what the experience has meant to her as a Navy veteran.
The feature also explains why that service matters. Election offices nationwide have struggled to staff polling places since the pandemic, when many older poll workers stepped back. In its first cycle in 2022, Vet the Vote brought in more than 63,000 poll workers, covering roughly half of the national shortfall.
The article also highlights research from UMD’s Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement, conducted with We the Veterans & Military Families, showing that the most distrustful voters are 15% more likely to say they believe election results once they learn that veterans and family members were serving as poll workers.
And the experience sticks. According to an internal survey cited in the story, 93% of Vet the Vote poll workers plan to serve again, and 96% would recommend the role to a friend or family member.
Read the full story at Maryland Today →
Inspired by Lauren’s story? Sign up to be a poll worker here.