With a little over a month until municipal elections take place in Kingston and all throughout the province, one local candidate has taken the opportunity to try and use the race as a pathway for teaching young people about the process.
Erin Clow is running in Portsmouth & Sydenham as Limestone District School Board Trustee, and parts of her campaign website have been dedicated to resources meant to promote discussion about elections with kids as young as 4 years old.
Clow says the goal is to make what seems like a complicated topic meant for adults accessible and engaging for children.
She designed the resources to be digestible for ages 4-14, and she says her hope is something like this can help encourage a more engaged and active population of young voters.
 “It doesn’t just happen at 18 that someone becomes interested in politics,” Clow said.
“I think if they can see the way that politics works and elections work and the decisions that are made specifically at the municipal level and how they impact their lives, they’re more likely when they can vote to be engaged and motivated to vote.”
There are 11 documents shared on the page to help provide a starting point for political education for youth, ranging from the role of a mayor or councillor to just what is to be decided in local elections.
The resources are strictly focused on the process of elections and the roles to be determined by the one upcoming, as Clow said her hope is just to inspire conversation and interest in the process of the local democratic process.
“It’s really about the principles and the ideas behind democracy and the municipal election, rather than telling kids what to think,” Clow said.
“It’s more about inspiring curiosity, just asking more questions.
Clow said she’s been inspired by her own children to try and promote more open conversation about politics between families, regardless of age, having seen just how many questions her two kids have had about the process since her own choice to run for local office.
She says particularly when it comes to municipal elections, voter turnout among people from 18-24 is extremely low, and she is optimistic that more education around the topic can help to change that.
With global politics being as top of mind as ever, Clow hopes people will start from the ground up with engaging in politics.
“It was deliberate to start at this municipal point to develop these resources,” Clow said.
“I have to think, and this is just my own anecdotal, but I have to think that given everything globally, politically, that’s happening, that most people are a bit more tuned in.”
Municipal elections will take place on October 26.
