Start seeing changes close to elections (7)
I believe the answer is:
genesis
'start' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'seeing changes close to elections' is the wordplay.
'changes' is an anagram indicator.
'close to' suggests the final letters (the 'close' to the word).
The final letter of 'elections' is 's'.
'seeing' is an anagram of 'genesi'.
'genesi'+'s'='GENESIS'
(Other definitions for genesis that I've seen before include "Beginning the holy book" , "OT opening" , "rock group" , "religious book?" , "Old Testament Book 1" .)