I feel I must reaffirm the vital importance and necessity of
the right of voting—a sacred responsibility of which no adult recognized
believer should be deprived, unless he is associated with a community that has
not as yet been in a position to establish a local Assembly. This
distinguishing right which the believer possesses, however, does not carry with
it nor does it imply an obligation to cast his vote, if he feels that the
circumstances under which he lives do not justify or allow him to exercise that
right intelligently and with understanding. This is a matter which should be
left to the individual to decide himself according to his own conscience and discretion.
- Shoghi Effendi (From a letter dated 28 April, 1935; published in ‘Messages to
America’)
