Voting and Gen Z: Abraar Arpon ’26
Inspired by American democracy and its potential, his faculty members, and his fellow students, Abraar Arpon ’26, who studies Computer Science and Public Action at Bennington, built a website that aims to make voting in the upcoming U.S. presidential election easier for everyone.
The site, myballot.info, aggregates information from 571 government websites to provide the answers to the most frequently asked voting questions in one place. The site has garnered 87,000 visits since its launch this summer and is currently logging 3,000 visits a day.
“As a member of Gen Z, I know Gen Z voters don’t want to read through pages of complex web text to get the answers they need,” said Arpon. “If we make all of the information easily available to all people, they are more likely to vote.”
The site is non-partisan and does not request or collect users’ information. Answers include how one registers to vote in their state, the voter registration deadlines, how one checks to see if they are registered, valid forms of ID, how to vote in absentia, and others.
Arpon is passionate about democracy in his own country, Bangladesh, and around the world and sees democratic participation as a key factor in a healthy democracy. Bangladesh’s democracy, according to the Global State of Democracy Initiative, performs at a low level based on representation, rights, and the rule of law.
A simpler web-based solution for voting information was suggested by Judith Enck, the president of Beyond Plastics and immediate past director of the Endeavor Environmental Action Fellowship, in which Arpon was a participant. She talked about wanting a way for anyone to get the voting information they needed, all in one place.
Arpon took up the challenge, which seemed to grow as he worked. He’s currently integrating an artificial-intelligence chat function to make the site even more user friendly. He continued the project for The State of American Democracy and the November 2024 Elections, a class with faculty members Susan Sgorbati, the director for the Center for the Advancement of Public Action, and Brian Campion.
“Abraar has shown remarkable initiative in this project,” said Sgorbati. “I am proud of him for this tremendous accomplishment and proud of Bennington College for being a place students can take on big projects that make a real difference in the world.”
Arpon hopes that the site will help strengthen democracy in the United States and sees strong democracies as a counterweight to radicalization.
“There are people out there who have more understanding than me, more money than me, more power than me, more influence on people…” Arpon said. “This is something I can do to support democracy in America. You cannot have a radical society if it is truly democratic.”
In addition to myballot.info, Arpon was a part of a group of students who helped develop Saving Democracy Together, an in-person and online seven-week class that brings Gen Z voters together with leading political thinkers nationwide. Learn more and see video recordings from the sessions at www.bennington.edu/democracyclass.