On Tuesday, 3 November 2020, the people of the United States will go to the polls to elect the President. The two candidates are current Republican US President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger former Vice-President Joe Biden. The US ballots will have more than just 2 names: All 435 seats in the House of Representatives, one-third of all senators, and several state governorships are up for grabs.
It is a great thing that the American people, like all citizens in the free world, have the right to choose their elected leaders in free and fair elections unlike the sham elections or no elections of autocratic nations. Unlike Australia, voting in the United States is not compulsory.
Yet, we can also agree that this particular election is very unusual and highly charged. The party conventions were mostly virtual. Joe Biden is rarely on the campaign trail, spending his time in his Delaware basement. At the time of
this writing, the much anticipated presidential debates are still ‘ON’ but there is pressure from key Democrats to cancel them.
How Should We Respond?
First of all, it is important to make an informed decision of where to cast your vote. The Democratic Party platform can be found here:
A comparison of the policy positions of the Democrats and Republicans can be found here.
https://downloads.frcaction.org/EF/EF18H05.pdf
On top of all this, there are serious pointers to potential election interference.
Pre-Election Challenges
1. Foreign hackers: There are concerted attempts to interfere, through cyber-space, with the US election. This could come from anywhere but the key countries being nominated for this dark activity include Iran, China, and Russia, not to mention potential domestic hackers.
2. Mail-in Ballots: Distinguished from absentee ballots, these are offered to people with minimal or no identification, making the possibility of multiple voting, ballot harvesting, or non-citizens voting all the more real. Can the already stretched US postal service even handle millions of ballots in a timely manner?
3. Big Tech: There have been serious allegations that social media giants could meddle in the election by manipulation the information people see; they have already been accused of censoring conservative voices. Though they are meant to merely serve as platform and not as editors of information (thus exempting them from liable suits), there have already been a congressional investigation and a Presidential executive order on this issue.
4. Media: Sound journalistic practice, in televised and print-media, has been in decline for a while. With a few exceptions, media workers act like political activists with a newspaper column and verified Twitter account, rather than professional journalists. But the current undisguised bias, ideological bent, failure to properly report the news (e.g. Israel & UAE peace agreement), and obvious hatred and fury, is doing the US a great disservice.
Post Election Challenges
The Biden campaign has hired 600 lawyers to contest results in the event of a close result, especially in key swing states. They want to prevent the Republicans from ‘stealing the election again,’ though there was no proof of this in the recent past.
https://spectator.org/mail-in-voting-voter-fraud-2020-presidential-election-biden-600-lawyers/
The last time there was a contested US Presidential election was in 2000 between Al Gore and George W. Bush. The final results were only announced after 6 weeks and was decided by a ruling of the US Supreme Court.
In the event of a contested election, especially with 600 lawyers, the case could go on much longer. If it is unresolved beyond 20 January 2021, then the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, would become temporary President until the final results are announced. This would be damaging to an already polarised society
How Shall We Pray
Here are some prayer points:
1. Election integrity: That attempts at cyber or non-cyber election interference, by foreigners and/or Americans, will not succeed.
2. Proper balloting: That voters can and will vote in-person, and to minimise or eliminate potential voter fraud;
3. Big tech: Pray for social media giants to do the right thing and allow for fair and uncensored information to be made available as a public service;
4. Informed electorate: That the American people will be accurately and sufficiently informed about the candidates and issues that they will make a wise decision.
5. Proper journalism: That the media can go from political activism to professional journalism: get the true story, present the facts, and let the people decide;
6. Pray against the strongholds: which are clearly manifest in America at this time (2 Corinthians 10:4-5):
1.
Rebellion,
2.
Lawlessness,
3.
Hatred,
4.
Fear,
5.
Violence,
6.
Division,
7.
Deception,
8.
Cancel-culture,
9.
Marxism,
10.
Anarchy,
11. Jezebel.
7. Decisive vote: Pray for a decisive result on 3-4 November.
Whether you are an
American or not, you have a vested interest in the outcome of this election.
Effectual fervent prayer in the heavens is the most powerful vote of all.
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