100 days to elections and every vote matters

OPINION:

With the recent attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life, the recent upheaval of the Democratic presidential candidates and fewer than 100 days until the general election on November 5, it’s important for each and every one of us to lift up our nation in prayer. At this very moment, millions of Americans are feeling overwhelmed by the serious issues facing our country.

Concerns about Mr. Trump’s personal safety… President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the Democratic ticket… our deteriorating economy… our national security because of open borders… increased threats around the world… and fears about America’s moral decline have created an unprecedented sense of anxiety.

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Yet, as we work to address these challenges, we need to remind ourselves that the Lord is in control. As people of faith, we’re called to trust God and not allow distractions like these to discourage and confuse us. We’re also called to take righteous action whenever possible.

Almost every week, a new headline illustrates that the actions of an elected government official — or someone who was appointed by an elected official — affect our freedom to live according to our faith. We live with the choices that are made in elections, and the best time and place to stop bad policy is at the ballot box on Election Day.

Even if there is not a great choice between the candidates, every vote can still slow the overall decline of our country. It takes patience and perseverance.

In recent years, many elections have been decided by the slimmest of margins. We only need to look at the March 2022 race for attorney general in Arizona, where the winning candidate was decided by 280 votes. In addition, consider a U.S. House race in Iowa in 2020, where the margin of victory was a mere six votes! Those six people who voted made a huge difference in the future of their state. Such slim margins are even more common in local races. We can’t leave our future to chance. Every vote matters.

Believe it or not, 28 states — over half the country — had a state legislative race decided by fewer than 100 votes in the 2022 elections. Of those races, 52% were won by Republicans and 48% were won by Democrats.

Some in the faith community see this extreme level of political polarization as an example of why the nation is lost. But they’re wrong. I believe it’s how Christians are going to win the nation back. How? Because narrow margins provide the opportunity to swing more elections.

With so much focus on the presidential election, voters can miss the potential to impact races all across the ballot, especially local elections where fewer people vote and even a handful of votes can swing the outcome.

When it takes so few votes to swing races in more than half the United States, then Judeo-Christian voters have the opportunity to win every single one of those and even more local and school board races — and dramatically shift the balance of power back towards faith, family and constitutional freedom. My organization, iVoterGuide, is directing its resources toward driving this shift at the federal, state and local levels, so that faith-based voters are equipped with the comprehensive candidate research they’ll need to cast informed ballots in November.

Unfortunately, the lack of media coverage for any elections other than the big presidential and national-level elections every two years is almost enough to make you think no other elections exist… but they do. State and local races are happening right under the nose of many voters, with outcomes that will have a much larger impact on their everyday lives than who represents them in Congress.

Conservative activists in many states are pushing to pass legislation defending unborn life, protecting children from the LGBTQ+ agenda, preserving religious freedom and advancing other crucial issues. However, this legislation will not become law if conservatives don’t gain majorities at the state level in 2024.

The power is in the hands of the faith community to elect solid conservative candidates and start turning our nation around.

If a small number of swing votes is all it takes, let’s not be caught sleeping. Let’s win those votes in every race possible in 2024 in order to change our country.

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Debbie Wuthnow is the president of iVoterGuide, a division of AFA Action, and a member of the Board of Directors of AFA Action. She joined iVoterGuide in 2011 as a data analyst and was named president in 2018. iVoterGuide is a one-stop resource for candidate ratings and election information. In 2022, iVoterGuide’s expert researchers gave an in-depth analysis — and overall rating — for 13,000+ candidates in 5,190 races nationwide. Additionally, iVoterGuide offers election dates, registration deadlines, polling locations, and other information needed to help Americans vote wisely and identify candidates on the ballot who share their values.