At the recent 100th U.S. Bahá’í National Convention, 171 delegates elected the nine members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States, which governs the affairs of the Faith for the 160,000 members in this country.


Consulting at the 2008 Baha'i National Convention The election took place on May 24 at the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette, Ill. Bahá’í delegates in virtually every country of the world gathered on or near that day to elect their own National Spiritual Assemblies. Baha'is come from nearly every national, ethnic and religious background, making the annual national conventions diverse events.

National Convention is the continuation of a process that began last October when Bahá'ís at regional conventions elected the delegates who elect the National Spiritual Assembly at the national convention.

Bahá'í elections are distinctive affairs, free from campaigning, nominations or electioneering. Opening with prayer, delegates vote in silence for adult members of the Baha'i community whom they believe posses the qualities of "unquestioned loyalty, of selfless devotion, of a well-trained mind, of recognized ability and mature experience."


Delegates at the National Convention The Baha'i Faith has no clergy; any member of the American Bahá'í community who is 21 or older is eligible to be elected to the National Spiritual Assembly.

Allison Ashley, a first-time delegate from Austin, Texas, says voting in Bahá'í elections is a “sacred responsibility” that delegates approach with “humility, joy, pride and reverence.” (Watch excerpts of an interview of Ms. Ashley.)

For Bruce Grover, a returning delegate from New York City, “bowing your head in prayer and searching your heart for the nine best individuals is the best part of the election.” (Watch excerpts of an interview of Mr. Grover.)


  In addition to electing the nine members of the National Spiritual Assembly, the four days of National Convention are a time when delegates discuss the affairs of the national community and provide the National Assembly with any “constructive suggestions in regard to the general administration of the [Bahá'í] Cause."

(See video footage of the opening session of the 100th National Convention, which includes an explanation of the purpose of the convention – five minutes and 30 seconds into the video clip.)

In the video, Jacqueline Left Hand Bull, chairman of the National Spiritual Assembly, reads a quote from Shoghi Effendi, leader of the Faith from 1921 to 1957, about the purpose of national conventions: “The convention meetings are not intended to be purely administrative. Their main and essential purpose is to enable the assembled delegates and friends to have a deeper and broader vision of the [Bahá'í] Cause, to an increase in the spirit of unity and wholehearted cooperation.”

Chicago Public Radio's "Eight Forty-Eight" program featured a story on the Bahá'í election process. “Eight Forty-Eight” contributor Jennifer Brandel interviewed a number of delegates at the 100th Bahá'í National Convention, including Michael Karlberg, professor of communications at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash.

“Our elections provide a model to the world of how people of all backgrounds can work together,” says Dr. Karlberg, author of Beyond the Culture of Contest, a book that explains that our present culture of contest is both unjust and unsustainable. (Hear more from Dr. Karlberg in this interview.)

Listen to a portion of the annual report from Kenneth Bowers, secretary general of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States, describing the experience of participating in the international convention held a few weeks earlier at the World Center of the Bahá'í Faith in Haifa, Israel, where he witnessed, “in the coming together of His followers from around the world, a glimmer of the future that Bahá'u'lláh foretold for all of humanity.”

“We could see in action, the eventual realization of Bahá'u'lláh’s vision of a world filled with justice, unity and peace,” Mr. Bowers says. “We’re living through the beginning of what will in the end be a radical change in human society – a spiritual and social revolution, the like of which the world has never witnessed.”