Thousands of kids will have the opportunity to have their say in mock elections that will introduce them to the voting process.

Already 609 schools have signed up for Kids Voting – Te Pōti a Ngā Tamariki 2023 – with about 98,000 students expected to take part, according to an electoral commission spokesperson.

The Electoral Commission is encouraging other schools to register for the free, fun and easy programme.

“It’s such a great opportunity for school students of all ages to get a taste of what it’s like to vote in a general election,” says Electoral Commission Deputy Chief Executive Operations Anusha Guler.

“What we’ve found is that kids benefit from learning about the voting process and get a real thrill out of having their vote counted in a mock election.”

Schools or individual teachers that sign up for Kids Voting give an indication of how many students will be participating.

“We then send them all the resources to run a mock election of their own,” says an Electorial Comission spokesperson.

These resources include:

• A Kids Voting ballot box
• Curriculum-linked teaching resources to support students’ learning
• A Teachers’ Guide to running a mock election
• We also send posters that teachers can put up around their classroom.

Teachers will be able to use these Kids Voting resources to support their students to explore real-life election issues and the parties and candidates standing in the election.

“The experience is made to authentic as possible, with kids voting mock papers containing actual parties and candidates from their electorate,” says Anusha Guler.

Schools can sign up for the programme or find out more information at http://www.kidsvoting.co.nz.