Seeing the upcoming election as an opportunity to advocate for social issues he is passionate about, junior Thor Anderson said he is helping Larry Kraft campaign for City Council At Large A Seat.

“I first met (Kraft) working through Roots and Shoots. I got to know him more as I became more interested (in climate change) and joined the Environmental Sustainability Commission,” Anderson said.

With a similar goal to contribute to the city election process, junior Maya Halpern said she decided to apply to the Student Election Judge Program — a program created by the city to help students learn about city elections and play an active role in election day as well.

“I wanted to be civically engaged. Even though I can’t vote, I wanted to participate in elections,” Halpern said.

Student election judge and junior Dahlia Krebs said because of the new voting system this year, it is even more crucial for youth to follow local elections.

“Especially because this is the first year doing ranked-choice voting, it is important for students to learn and understand how (local elections) work,” Krebs said.

According to Kraft, junior Gabriel Kaplan has been running his campaign, along with the help of several other student volunteers.

“(Kaplan) is my campaign manager, so he’s figuring out where we need to door knock and he puts assignments together. He’s controlling the flow of the campaign,” Kraft said. “The other folks involved are doing a mix of door knocking, post card writing, texting and doing a lot of voter outreach.”

According to Halpern, civic involvement will help prepare students to vote in elections.

“I think it’s really important for everyone to be involved in their communities and in politics, even from a young age,” Halpern said. “We’re the future and this is one way for students to that.”

Election day is Nov. 5. Polling locations are posted on the city website.