Regional Bahá’í Council Voting Period is Now Open

Pathway to the Resting Place of the Greatest Holy Leaf, (Bahiyyih Khánum), the daughter of Bahá’u’lláh, in the Monument Gardens — Bahá’í Media Bank

From October 4 through October 10, members of Local Spiritual Assemblies are eligible to vote annually for the Regional Bahá’í Council. Instructions and supporting materials are below.

As you prepare to cast your ballot for service on your Regional Bahá’í Council “those women and men who, through their proven experience in the activities of the Plan, their capacity to participate in the learning process, and their upright character and constructive attitudes, can best advance the process of entry by troops,” we wish to share with you a few important reminders:

Voting Period — Monday, October 4 through Sunday, October 10 (11:59 PM Central Time)
Online Voting — Click here to cast your ballot online through the Online Balloting System (OBS). Assembly members must have a Bahá’í Online Services Account (BOSA). If you do not already have a BOSA (which is also used to access the Online Contribution System and the Huqúqu’lláh Payment System), you can create one through this link. You may find the document, Five Easy Steps to Cast Ballot Online, helpful in this process.
Paper ballots must be mailed to the Chief Teller (to the address provided here) and postmarked by October 11.
The National Spiritual Assembly’s letter of September 14, distributed earlier, together with links to its attachments, is included below for your added convenience (reproduced below).

A Letter from the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States

Balloting Materials for the Regional Bahá’í Council of the Midwestern States

Please find accompanying this message a letter from the National Spiritual Assembly regarding the 2021 appointment of your Regional Bahá’í Council. Paper ballots are being distributed by post in accordance with results of the survey your secretary completed and should arrive by the end of September. Assemblies that did not respond to the survey will receive a packet containing nine ballots, for distribution to their members as needed. Everyone who is able to do so is encouraged to cast his or her ballot online through the Online Balloting System (OBS). Further instructions in this regard will follow in due course.

The documents accompanying this letter are accessible through the following links:

As an added convenience, the National Assembly’s letter is reproduced below.

September 14, 2021

To all Local Spiritual Assemblies

Dearest Bahá’í Friends,

In its message to the Continental Boards of Counselors on December 28, 2010, the Universal House of Justice discussed service on Bahá’í institutions, noting both the “tremendous privilege” and the “responsibility” such service entails. For every Local Spiritual Assembly, “a channel through which the spirit of the Cause flows,” participation in the annual casting of ballots for its respective Regional Bahá’í Council must surely rank among the weightiest of its responsibilities.

The materials accompanying this letter have been designed to assist you in submitting valid ballots within the required timeframe, either online through the Online Balloting System or by paper ballot. We trust that in anticipation of this you have already taken steps to ensure that each member of your Assembly understands her or his responsibility and is committed to participation in the task, which, though different in some respects procedurally, is no less meaningful and sacred than other facets of the Bahá’í electoral process.

The Regional Bahá’í Councils, as the Universal House of Justice states in its Ridván 2021 message, have “proved themselves indispensable for advancing the process of growth” and strive to build communities that will, as anticipated by Shoghi Effendi, “directly combat and eventually eradicate the forces of corruption, of moral laxity, and ingrained prejudice eating away at the vitals of society.” We urge you to take time to reflect on the qualifications for Council membership described below, bearing them in mind as you later cast your ballots.

In a letter written to another National Spiritual Assembly in August 2007, the House of Justice states:

Clearly, in casting their votes, [participants] will give due regard to the qualities specified by the Guardian such as selfless devotion, recognized ability and unquestioned loyalty, as well as to factors such as age distribution, diversity and gender. Yet they must also realize that at this time Regional Councils are responsible largely for overseeing the execution of the global Plan in the territories under their jurisdiction, in collaboration with the Counsellors and their deputies, ensuring that the two complementary movements central to its progress steadily unfold. It is only natural, then, that Local Assembly members would select for service on a Council men and women who, through their understanding of the institute process, their proven experience with the core activities, their ability to contribute to learning at the grassroots and their constructive attitudes, can best guide the unfoldment of the Five Year Plan.

This year, as you know, election meetings to cast ballots for Regional Councils will not be required; however, they may be held if local circumstances permit and Assemblies wish to do so. This is an act that should be carried out in an undistracted, quiet, and prayerful atmosphere, reflecting the high importance of the occasion. Each member of your Assembly is receiving a copy of this letter—and a compilation of guidance from the Bahá’í World Center on the function of the Regional Councils—for personal study in advance of the voting period.

As you propose for service on your Regional Bahá’í Council “those women and men who, through their proven experience in the activities of the Plan, their capacity to participate in the learning process, and their upright character and constructive attitudes, can best advance the process of entry by troops,” be assured our loving support surrounds you, as do our prayers that your faithful efforts may be blessed and guided.

With loving Bahá’í greetings,

NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF
THE BAHÁ’ÍS OF THE UNITED STATES

Kenneth E. Bowers
Secretary