Civil and voter education comes alive with mock parliaments, elections, political debating and so forth. In many countries, EMBs, schools and other providers of CVE run mock elections for various age groups which are integrated within the regular curriculum, or organized in the lead-up to an electoral event. Mock elections allow young and first-time voters to explore the practical workings of electoral procedures. Mock elections can be held purely as a teaching or practice exercise, but they can also be a tool to help non-voters have a voice if held alongside the real election. Mock elections are also a “safe” place for youth with disabilities or young women, who would otherwise not have access to electoral processes, to learn about voting. 

Example: Kids Voting USA is a non-partisan, grassroots-driven voter education program committed to creating lifelong voting habits in children, increasing family communication about citizenship and encouraging greater adult voter turnout. Kids Voting USA started in 1988 and by mid-2018 over 1 million young people had participated in the program throughout the US. Kids Voting is a similar program in Canada. Mock elections take place at polling places on Election Day, and results can be reported along with the official results of the actual election. 

Example: The EMB in Mexico (Institute Nacional Electoral – INE) has done several elections for children and youth for over a decade.[i]  

Example: In Jordan, at the local level, mock elections in Madaba provided an opportunity to 23 young men and women, aged 18–24, to simulate the first local elections to be held under the 2015 Decentralization Law and Municipality Law, which took place in 2017. The young participants shared good practices to support the candidates in campaigning and discussed the implications of the decentralization reform. The Election Day mobilized 2,251 voters to cast their ballot under the supervision of the Independent Election Commission (IEC). See Annex: Mock Elections Jordan.