KIDS VOTING

More school students than ever before will be running their own mock elections this September. More than 100,000 students from 541 schools have registered for the Electoral Commission’s Kids Voting programme. Chief electoral officer Alicia Wright said the high number of early registrations showed schools were keen to teach their students about the electoral process. The programme provides schools with the resources needed for students to run amock election. Students learn about and vote for real candidates and parties and then compare the results with the outcome of the General Election. Wright said it helped the students understand the process and get ready to vote when they turn 18.