Demokrasi di Tangan Milenial: Inisiatif Pengabdian Edukasi Politik Dalam Menyambut Pemilu

The 2024 General Election in Indonesia marks a critical democratic milestone, with 56% of voters comprising millennials and Gen Z. However, youth political participation faces challenges such as low political literacy, apathy, and misinformation on social media. This article examines a community service initiative through a public lecture titled Millennial Contributions to the 2024 Election organized by the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) at Malikussaleh University for Public Administration students. The program aimed to enhance political awareness, digital literacy, and students roles as democratic agents. Methods included needs-based material preparation, expert-led lectures, interactive discussions, reflection sessions, and post-event questionnaires. Key topics covered election mechanisms, information disorders (misinformation, disinformation, malinformation), and strategies for becoming informed voters. Results indicated significant improvements in students understanding of electoral processes, the impact of misinformation, and the urgency of active participation, with 75% of participants expressing increased confidence in engaging with the 2024 election. Identified challenges included political skepticism, gaps in advanced political literacy, and reliance on unverified social media content. The initiative emphasized countermeasures such as fact-checking tools, educational campaigns, and collaborations with institutions, alongside legal frameworks like Indonesias Electronic Information and Transactions Law (ITE Law) to combat hoaxes and data breaches. The study concludes that academic forums effectively foster critical political awareness among millennials. Despite persistent barriers, enhancing political and digital literacy is pivotal to improving electoral participation quality and strengthening Indonesias substantive democracy. As future public administrators, Public Administration students hold strategic roles in disseminating democratic values and modeling informed civic engagement, contributing to a more resilient democratic ecosystem.