How Bahá'ís Should Vote

by Arash Abizadeh

About: Two widespread misconceptions among Bahá’ís are that, according to Shoghi Effendi, (a) Bahá’í voters should not discuss how they should vote prior to Bahá’í elections and (b) the only relevant criteria for voting are the qualifications of the individuals voted for. Shoghi Effendi in fact suggests that Bahá’í voters should discuss the criteria for voting, but without reference to particular individuals. Moreover, he provides four different types of criteria that voters should consider: criteria concerning (1) the qualifications of individual Assembly members, (2) the collective makeup of the Assembly as a whole, (3) changes in the individual Assembly members over time, and (4) changes in the collective makeup of the Assembly over time.