Why Are Voters Skipping Local Races?

Many years ago I was trained and worked as a systems engineer. So I’ve always placed a high value on trustworthy data to help solve problems. Reliable research can play a big role in helping organizations of all kinds channel their resources in the best direction.

So this year a dream of mine came true when iVoterGuide and American Family Action partnered with leading Christian researcher Dr. George Barna. We commissioned a nationwide study to focus on issues related to down-ballot voting and the use of voter guides. And we collected some fascinating data. 

Dr. George Barna and the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University revealed, while 85 percent of likely voters will pull the lever at the top of the ticket, only 55 percent say they will “definitely vote” for offices further down the ballot.

This means that voters are skipping the offices that have the most direct impact on their lives locally—offices that also become springboards for national positions of power.

District attorneys. Mayors. Judges. County Commissioners. City Council. School board. When we relinquish our votes as Christians, these critical offices are being left to chance or influenced by activist groups. In the process, we inadvertently silence the Christian voice in politics and surrender our values to the unbelieving political culture. If godly people don’t vote, they leave the ungodly to choose for them.

Even more concerning, guess which down-ballot office is the most confusing to voters? School board. That’s right. School board comes in dead last—10 points less likely than any other office on the ballot to capture the vote.

You may wonder how this is possible. School boards have received more attention than ever in recent years. They have made increasingly high-profile and controversial decisions about parent rights, trans issues, immunizations, and COVID. They play a huge role in charting the path of children and youth—the most spiritually vulnerable population and our most precious resource for the future. But data shows voters are overwhelmingly leaving the office blank on their ballot. 

Research also shows, however, that apathy is not the problem. Here’s what Dr. Barna reported:  

Thirty-six percent of likely voters say they lack credible or sufficient information to vote for school board candidates.

Turns out engineers aren’t the only ones who depend on data. The people most likely to vote in an election would rather NOT vote at all than vote for a candidate they can’t support with confidence. Conscientious voters want the truth about candidates before backing them. These voters want more than rhetoric. They want more than endorsements. They even want more than encouragement from a friend or a pastor. And iVoterGuide is uniquely positioned to fill this gap. 

We provide candidates’ track records, their sources of funding, and their stated beliefs about issues of greatest concern to biblical voters. We diligently (and prayerfully) research this information, make it available, and distribute it for every address nationwide at no cost. We provide voters what they need to vote with confidence. 

Armed with this critical information from Dr. Barna, we are making plans now to ramp up our strategy for equipping more voters with the information they most want. (And need!) You can help by sharing iVoterGuide with friends and family members as we enter the midterm election season. We also ask you to pray for us. Nothing is more important than building on the foundation of Jesus Christ through prayer. Please pray that we continue to put Him first in all of our efforts and prioritize His ultimate glory. 

But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value.” – 1 Corinthians 3:10-13

Dr. Barna's full report covers a range of issues, and you can read it for free here. We hope it will convict and activate you as much as it has our iVoterGuide team.