Can you imagine…
… an electoral process without electioneering, nomination, or campaigners asking you to vote for them. Then imagine your voting responsibility as a silent year-long process of consciously watching for these leadership characteristics in people with whom you interact:
- Mature experience
- Selfless devotion to the community
- A well-trained mind
- Unquestioned loyalty
- Recognized ability
Now imagine voting for anyone in the community – no lists – no ballots with names – and in complete secret ballot protocol without discussion of personalities or names, not even with your own family members. You imagine yourself present at this election. The atmosphere is quiet and dignified. You close your eyes and centre your attention on God. With an atmosphere of spirituality and deep love, you pray that your vote will result in the election of a group of nine people who will be best qualified to serve the community for a period of one year.
… consider without the least trace of passion and prejudice, and irrespective of any material consideration, the names of only those who can best combine the necessary qualities of unquestioned loyalty, of selfless devotion, of a well-trained mind, of recognized ability and mature experience.
– Shoghi Effendi, Baha’i Administration, p. 88.
When you write down nine names on your completely blank ballot, you aim to vote not only for individuals who best exemplify the above characteristics, but to consider the importance of the role of diversity terms of race, age, gender and ability. The goal is that the elected body will have a wide enough experience to ensure decision making is just and equitable.
From among the pool of those whom the elector believes to be qualified to serve, selection should be made with due consideration given to such other factors as age distribution, diversity, and gender. The elector should make his choice after careful thought over an extended period before the actual election.
– The Universal House of Justice March 25, 2007
In fact diversity is so important in Baha’i elections, that If there is a tie between 2 individuals, one of whom is a minority, the vote is automatically accorded to the minority individual.
…every organised community, enlisted under the banner of Bahá’u’lláh should feel it to be its first and inescapable obligation to nurture, encourage, and safeguard every minority belonging to any faith, race, class, or nation within it. So great and vital is this principle that in such circumstances, as when an equal number of ballots have been cast in an election, or where the qualifications for any office are balanced as between the various races, faiths or nationalities within the community, priority should unhesitatingly be accorded the party representing the minority, and this for no other reason except to stimulate and encourage it, and afford it an opportunity to further the interests of the community….
– (25 December 1938, published as “The Advent of Divine Justice”, p. 35)
After listening to the recitation of sacred verses, music and prayers, and taking the time to wait for everyone to complete their voting, one by one each community member takes his or her completed vote to the ballot box. A team of tellers reverently receive and check that each ballot is accounted for and properly inserted. There is total silence. Everyone around you is in deep thought or prayer. Some people kiss their ballots before they hand them to the tellers. Many people are crying.
On the election day, the friends must whole-heartedly participate in the elections, in unity and amity, turning their hearts to God, detached from all things but Him, seeking His guidance and supplicating His aid and bounty.
-(27 February l923 written by Shoghi Effendi to the Bahá’ís of the East—translated from the Persian)
When the voting is over and the counting process is taking place, the community listens to a letter, a special message that is sent to all the communities around the world from The Universal House of Justice reminding them of the most poignant issues we are facing today. It celebrates local and global achievements in the fields of the education of children and youth, community development, human rights, gender equality, global prosperity, the elimination of prejudice and efforts made towards living in a peaceful world where all humanity sees itself as one family.
This letter is the guiding framework for the year and inspires action. Each year’s letter builds upon the last and is always pertinent, encouraging and has a strong call to action. Most interestingly, this world-wide message is appropriate for all the peoples of the earth to take up in their own way, with their own ideas and initiatives. The goal is to bring the world closer to an ideal of paradise on earth where no one lives in poverty or disease and we all have access to education and employment. You listen in gratitude and try to think about what you will do differently in response to this letter from the Supreme Governing Body.
When the ballots have been counted, those nine community members who have been elected stand at the front of the community in complete humility and disbelief. There are no speeches or rallies, no raucous parties. Only joy in knowing that we have chosen the most qualified leaders among us in a spirit of humility, service and a sense of deep respect for this sacred electoral process. Everyone rises to their feet and applauds wildly and joyfully – each community and each cultural group in its own unique way.
This, my friends, is the electoral system referred to as the Baha’i Administrative Order. It takes place in more than 100,000 communities in every country in the world, every year at the start of the Baha’i calendar’s most important festival, Ridvan, on April 20 and one week later for national elections. Representatives from each of these communities are elected in the same way to vote for National Spiritual Assemblies. And every five years, National Spiritual Assemblies convene in Haifa, Israel to vote for the Universal House of Justice. Baha’i elections take place annually on the same date and time in an organized, reverent manner without any issues of corruption and no election budget.
It is an entirely unique process that brings people together to choose leadership without the trappings of wealth or limitations of poverty in a rarified atmosphere of prayer and spirituality. This year in Edmonton… to stop the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, there will be no communal gathering for election purposes. Voting will take place by mail and phone, in some communities electronically. Virtual Holy Day celebrations will take the place of in person celebrations. Yet we will all be united in a combined local and global election that takes place on April 20th, no matter what the conditions.
Can you imagine a world completely transformed by raising the process of election to this level of sacred responsibility? Having participated in both local and national Baha’i elections for many years, I am grateful for those moments of the divine. For me, these elections have been a glimpse into the heaven of possibility for how we, as a human race could be.
