The old joke about "voting early and voting often" is really no joke at all, not when you apply it to kids and the future of democracy.

With Hawai'i's low voter turnout, it's important that we impress upon our children as early as possible that responsible citizens vote in every election.

That's what makes the Kids Voting Hawai'i project one of the most important civics lessons we can offer our keiki.

An affiliate of Kids Voting USA, the state program works with public schools. As of the end of September, nearly 92,000 had registered statewide to take part, nearly double the number who signed up in 2002.

There's still time to register. With access to a computer, a student needs only a password issued by a teacher to sign up at www.kidsvotinghawaii.org. Home-schooled children and students in private schools can also participate. Once registered, students learn about issues and candidates, and can actually practice voting online as much as they want before the election day.

And if children don't have access to a school or library on Nov. 7, volunteers will be at polling places with a computer for underage voters.

It's also not too late for adults who missed the primary to register to vote in the general election. The cut-off to register for the actual election is Monday.

Preaching the importance of voting to our children is important — voting is leading by example.

Be a role model for your children, and show them that participation in democracy is a real family affair.