It’s really easy to assume, sadly. Picture the scene: polling day comes round. You feel disillusioned with the voting options put in front of you. Your eyes scan the various candidates; none of them stand out at you, whether for reasons of principle, or party allegiance, and even the character of the candidates in your ballot paper. You know that you simply must vote; you even wish to vote, to exercise your democratic right. But the choices are only so bad.
We don’t expect to agree with all the things that a celebration stands for; no candidate will exactly replicate the values which we hold. But sometimes the differences just feel insurmountable.
Maybe you are a standard Conservative voter, but you might be so frustrated with how they’ve performed while in office that you simply do not feel like can support them anymore, and also you’re fearful about what a Labour government might do. Or perhaps you are a Labour supporter on the subject of the economy and to inequality, but you are afraid that electing them will unleash a storm of liberalisation on the subject of a number of the social issues that matter most to you.
Or perhaps – and we saw this with some Labour supporters within the Rochdale by-election earlier within the 12 months, which resulted within the victory of George Galloway – even in case your party has a candidate, you don’t feel like you’ll be able to support them to be your representative, as a result of things they’ve said, or beliefs which they hold.
What ought we to do as Christians in such circumstances? Are there right and improper courses of motion?
Christians will take different views in response to those questions, but listed here are three possible routes we would take if we’re struggling to work out who we would vote for.
1. Vote for the least bad option
The Bible teaches that the role of presidency isn’t just to advertise what is nice, additionally it is to restrain what’s evil (1 Peter 2:13-14).
Sometimes it would feel a little bit bit like our vote is like that; we will not be overly enthused by the ‘big vision’ which any of the parties are declaring (on this election, as an example, it would feel just like the Conservatives’ big sales-pitch is ‘We’re not Labour’, and Labour’s is ‘We’re not the Tories’!).
But even when we don’t feel like one party or one other goes to attain vast amounts of excellent, we still have a responsibility to look to restrain evil. Have you considered for instance, whether one party might change laws around life issues? Or whether life under one other party goes to be particularly hard for a number of the most vulnerable inside society, corresponding to the poor or the foreigner?
Ultimately, not voting influences the end result, just as voting does; let’s think not nearly what one government might do, but about what another government may not do.
2. Vote for a candidate you think in, although they will not win
Sometimes we may not feel like we will vote for a candidate from one in all the key parties; but we would still feel like we will vote for a candidate from a minor party, or who’s standing as independent, although we feel like they’re unlikely to win.
This is a situation I actually was in in 2019, when, although leaning to the fitting politically, I didn’t feel like I personally could vote in good conscience for the Conservatives while they were led by Boris Johnson (although I fully recognise that other Christians could). Instead, I ended up voting Independent for the sitting MP who had lost the Conservative Party whip and who had been ejected from the party, although he was more likely to lose.
Other Christians might decide to vote for a minor party – corresponding to a celebration with an explicitly Christian candidate – which more closely represents their very own views, as we have written about here. Often at the foundation of this approach is a desire to not go against our conscience, being mindful that we consider in a God to whom we can have to offer account for our actions (Romans 14:12).
As Christians we’ve got all been blessed with different consciences; there are matters where it’s legitimate for us to disagree, or to take different approaches. But it can be crucial for every of us to not go against our conscience (cf. Romans 14:23: “all the things that doesn’t come from faith is sin”).
One query which this does raise is whether or not there may be ever such a thing as a wasted vote (ie. in the event you know that the candidate you vote for has no probability of being elected). But no matter whether or not the candidate you vote for was elected or not, the vote will still be counted, and in some modest way, your voice will still be heard.
Indeed, sometimes voting for a celebration which is not more likely to win can shape the talk greater than voting for a candidate who does win (this was seen a number of years ago within the European Elections when the Brexit Party over-performed their predictions, dragging the Conservative Party to the fitting).
3. Spoil your ballot
Maybe you’re feeling like although you could possibly vote for a candidate from a minor party, you’ll moderately send a message by spoiling your ballot, that’s, by disobeying the foundations around putting a cross in a single particular box (corresponding to by putting personal identifiable information, or, as a protest, writing a political message in your voting card).
Indeed, in the event you want to not vote for any party in any respect, spoiling a ballot is a way of no less than having your voice heard (and registered on record), versus staying away completely, particularly provided that spoiling a ballot has long been recognised as a protest tactic.
One word of caution about this approach, nevertheless: spoiling a ballot doesn’t capture anything greater than that the vote is invalid. It doesn’t capture why you’ve gotten protested, or quite what you might be protesting against (and even whether you might be protesting in any respect, given some spoilt ballots just check with people filling out their form incorrectly).
Although I’d advocate for this moderately than staying away from the ballot box completely, my very own personal conviction could be that it is best to vote for a candidate who’s unlikely to win than it’s to vote for nobody in any respect. We wish to be for things, not only against them.
Christians will – as in so many matters – take different approaches after they feel like they don’t desire to vote for anyone. There aren’t necessarily right or improper answers, and the end result may be so decided by what constituency you reside in (and whether there may be a candidate who you’ll be able to get behind there, whatever the party they represent).
Ultimately, if we want to steward our votes correctly, seeking to promote good and restrain evil, and never going against our conscience, we cannot go too far improper.
Find a variety of resources to enable you think, act, and pray before you solid your vote at CARE’s dedicated election website: engaGE24
Peter Ladd has is head of content at CARE.
