Election Day 2012 – Tuesday, November 6 — is four weeks away. That means four more weeks to put young children on candidates’ agendas. An Early Ed Watch post from Lisa Guernsey offers three reasons why the issue is important:

“The potential for childcare to boost parents’ ability to climb the job ladder and strengthen the economy, the tight connection between strong early learning experiences and children’s later success in school and the urgent need to counter the pernicious effects of worsening child poverty in this country.”

It’s part of a Q-and-A in the Newark Star-Ledger in which Guernsey also calls for increased funding to increase professional development, reduce staff turnover and give more children access to early education. See also this summary of a recent New America Foundation event, “Speaking Up: What the Presidential Candidates Should be Saying about Child Care and Early Learning.”

In more election news, check out the election toolkit from the First Five Years Fund. The toolkit includes an early learning fact sheet, voter message cards, sample social media posts and a template for candidate letters. “I’m looking for a candidate,” says one message card, “who is committed to investing in quality early childhood development— from birth to age 5 —which has been proven to prevent the achievement gap and provide a strong foundation for helping all children arrive at kindergarten ready to learn and succeed in school, college, career and life.”

And, as readers of this blog know from previous posts, we have an Election 2012 question of the week every Friday, an Election 2012 page on our website,  and “Eight questions about young children to ask candidates” that I suggest on MassMoms.com.

Finally, a reminder to Massachusetts residents. If you have not yet registered to vote you still have time. To cast a ballot on November 6, you must register to vote by Wednesday, October 17.