SLEM: Student-Lead Election Monitoring
Watching the information
that shapes our elections.
The Maryland Student-Lead Election Monitoring (SLEM) Cooperative is a distributed, student-led network that tracks election-related information across social media platforms — providing officials, researchers, and the public with timely intelligence on what Maryland constituents are actually seeing.
Closing the gap between officials and constituents.
Local and state election officials are best placed to respond to questions about electoral processes — but they often lack visibility into what average constituents are actually experiencing in the information environment around them. Where are people encountering election-related content? How much of it is locally versus nationally focused? How much is accurate?
This cooperative addresses that gap directly. By engaging students from across Maryland’s colleges and universities — diverse in background, platform habits, geography, and perspective — we create a living sensor network that mirrors the real information diet of the state’s younger constituents.
Led by the Global Elections and Information Security (GEIS) research group at the University of Maryland’s College of Information, and operating in partnership with the Maryland Democracy Initiative, this effort is built to scale, to sustain, and to serve every election cycle.
“A distributed monitoring approach that engages students from institutes of higher education across the state, directly leveraging the diversity of experience these students have in both perspective and interest.”— Project Charter
How the cooperative works.
Students monitor their own organic social feeds, flagging election-related content in real time. That intelligence is aggregated, verified, and escalated to the officials who need it most.
What this network will produce.
The cooperative will generate actionable intelligence — not just data — designed to meet the real operational needs of election officials, researchers, and the press.
Weekly Situation Briefs
Statewide summaries of emerging election narratives, trending topics, and identified misinformation, distributed to the SBE and participating institutions.
Geographic & Platform Maps
Dashboards showing which narratives are spreading where and on which platforms, enabling targeted county-level responses.
Real-Time Escalation Alerts
Immediate notification to SBE and county boards when high-risk content is detected — such as false polling place information or voter suppression narratives.
Verified Content Repository
A secure, annotated archive available to trained consortium members and authorized researchers for longitudinal and comparative study.
Academic Research
The dataset supports peer-reviewed scholarship on election information quality, platform dynamics, and constituency-level information exposure.
Official Outreach Support
Willing student collaborators can also help amplify accurate content from local officials to diverse audiences, strengthening two-way communication.
Who we’re looking for.
This initiative succeeds through a diverse coalition. Here is how each type of partner makes the work possible.
Student Monitors
Undergraduate and graduate students from any Maryland institution and any discipline are welcome. Complete the training, monitor your own feeds a few hours per week during election periods.
- Earn service-learning credit or research assistantship hours
- Short certification training developed by GEIS faculty
- No special software — just your existing social media feeds
- Diverse platform habits especially valued (TikTok, niche forums, etc.)
- Stipends for core contributors if funding permits
Philanthropic & Grant Partners
Seeking initial funding to build technical infrastructure, compensate student participants, and scale to all major Maryland institutions before the next election cycle.
- Support a nonpartisan, student-led civic infrastructure model
- Enable stipends that open participation to all socioeconomic backgrounds
- Fund a replicable template other states can adopt
- Eligible for election security, civic tech, and media literacy programs
- Acknowledgment in all public reports and publications
Election Officials & Government Partners
The cooperative is designed to serve you. Weekly briefs, real-time alerts, and geographic dashboards deliver actionable insight into constituent information exposure without requiring additional staff capacity.
- Weekly statewide election information situation briefs
- Immediate alerts on high-risk misinformation in your jurisdiction
- Direct line to GEIS analysts for rapid response support
- Advisory Committee seat to shape reporting priorities
- Cooperative data available for official communications and press responses
Academic & Civic Partners
Journalism schools, civic organizations, political science departments, and nonpartisan advocacy groups bring specialized expertise and institutional reach to the cooperative’s mission.
- Embed faculty or staff on the Advisory Committee
- Access the verified content repository for research collaboration
- Co-design training modules reflecting your domain expertise
- Co-publish analysis through academic and public-facing venues
- Coordinate on grant proposals and shared infrastructure
Built on structure & accountability.
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Lead Institution University of Maryland — GEIS & Maryland Democracy Initiative — serves as hub and coordinating body.
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Consortium Membership All major Maryland colleges and universities invited — public, private, and community colleges alike.
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Advisory Committee We are looking to engage with state/county boards and faculty across a variety of disciplines.
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Campus Coordinators One faculty or staff point person per participating institution manages local recruitment and student team captains.
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Long-Term Vision Institutionalized as a recurring statewide program active every election cycle — and a replicable template for other states.
Our Commitments
Grounded in trusted institutions.
The cooperative is anchored at UMD and connected to a growing network of academic, civic, and governmental partners.
The cooperative is actively seeking partnerships with Maryland community colleges, private institutions, journalism schools, and nonpartisan civic organizations.
Ready to help secure Maryland’s
information environment?
Whether you’re a student ready to monitor, a funder ready to invest, an official ready to receive intelligence, or a researcher ready to collaborate — there’s a place for you here.
Cody Buntain
Assistant Professor, College of Information
University of Maryland
cbuntain@umd.edu
Global Elections and Information Security (GEIS)
UMD College of Information
