A vote that really matters

Based on findings from their 2024 Post-Election Survey, Dr. George Barna and his team at the Cultural Research Center (CRC) at Arizona Christian University reported that among self-identified Christians, 56% voted.

However, voter turnout in the 2024 General Election was low compared to 2020. Specifically, “45% of voting-age Americans abstained from voting, with only 55% of the voting-age population casting ballots, down from 62% in 2020,” as reported in the same article.

The survey cited lethargy as the common reason for not voting: “One out of five voting-age, self-identified Christians (20%) said they had intended to vote but simply forgot or never got around to it.”

One-sixth of non-Christian adults gave the same reason.

So, what does this imply about upcoming elections, and what can be done to effect change?

Vote in the party primary

A primary election is where 80-90% of legislative elections are truly decided, because most legislative districts are drawn to strongly favor one party over another. Not voting in the party primary is handing your power over to someone else to choose who will represent you.

Vote in local and school board elections

In special elections or elections that involve local or school board candidates, even fewer people participate. When iVoterGuide covered school board elections in 2024, over one-third of them were decided by less than 400 votes.

Rest assured that those who do vote are the school board staff, educational establishment, and local activists. But what about the local church? The impact of just a few churches encouraging their members to vote could be the deciding factor in those important elections. Local churchgoers could have a major influence on their school boards by being informed and turning out at the polls.

Vote for every race on the ballot

Many voters will “undervote,” or skip one or more races on their ballot by intentionally leaving them blank, which usually means that voters lack information about the candidates on their ballot. That is why the work of iVoterGuide is so important.

Be informed

iVoterGuide’s research and ratings are especially valuable in helping voters distinguish between candidates who may all run under the same party banner in a primary election. This is even more important in local or school board races that are non-partisan, which means no party label is available to guide the voter.

For example, in one primary election, 18 candidates of the same party ran for a congressional seat. However, iVoterGuide research showed the political ideology evaluations assigned to those candidates ranged from verified conservative to liberal – even though they were running under the same party banner. Informed voters can make the difference in sending true conservatives to the general election. It’s time to take advantage of every election day . . . not just the one in November.