Frequently Asked Questions

Follow the instructions:

CT/ACT: https://youtu.be/O46L9jTdWVQ

Tellers: https://youtu.be/nJJlZTPsJlo

There is no minimum number of voters needed for a Baha'i election. Go ahead and report the results. If there were fewer than five voters, the Office of Community Administration will contact you in the next few days to gather more information, and then the National Assembly will consider whether or not to recognise your Assembly.

Once the results are confirmed and sent to eMembership2, the systems must validate them. After that, the result can either be accepted or rejected. The rejected reason can be seen by hovering the mouse cursor over the status.

At this time, the following are identified as racial minorities: American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Black/African American, Latino/Hispanic, and Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander. The National Assembly also considers individuals of mixed race to be minorities. Persians and women are not considered minorities for Bahá’í elections.

Please refer to the  "Invalid Ballots & Votes"  page. 

The CT/ACT should decide which ballot will be marked as duplicate and set aside, and which ballot will be submitted into the system. However, if there is an online ballot submitted, it takes precedence over any physical ballot.

Community members who seem to be inactive are still eligible to vote and to serve. Lists of those eligible to vote and those eligible to serve are available and can be accessed through eMembership2.

Yes. Their names should not be removed from the community’s membership list unless it can be verified that they no longer live in the community. When possible, efforts should be made to locate them and offer them spiritual support, or verify that they have moved away.

No, but they are still eligible to be elected to the Assembly. If a voting list is sent with the election call, their names should be included on it, unless they have strongly objected to being included. If elected, guidance should be sought from the National Assembly before attempting to contact them.

No. Only those who actually physically reside within the boundaries of an established locality are eligible to either vote for or serve on the Assembly.

Believers cannot be considered members of more than one community at the same time. The locality in which adult believers reside for the majority of the year should be considered the community in which they are eligible to participate in the election and serve on the Assembly. If the length of time they spend at each residence is approximately the same, they may choose the community in which they desire to hold membership, and the Membership Office at the Bahá’í National Center should be notified accordingly.

Yes, there is no minimum amount of time that Bahá’ís must reside in a community before they may vote and participate in a Bahá’í election. Even if they move to a community on the day of an election, they may participate in it. If a list of those eligible to serve was previously distributed, generally it may not be practical to distribute an updated list that would have their names added, though the updated list should be available to those attending the Annual Meeting.

If the purpose of the move is to prevent the loss of an Assembly or to assist with the formation of an Assembly that would not be able to form otherwise, and the believer has made a firm commitment, such as obtaining a lease or putting a down payment on a house, they can be counted, provided they will be physically residing in the community within 90 days. If the move is not to save or form an Assembly, then the believer should still be considered a resident of his or her current community.

Yes. Newly enrolled Bahá’ís are eligible to vote for and to serve on an Assembly if the enrollment has been recognized by the National Assembly. To verify the eligibility of newly enrolled Bahá’ís in eMembership2, select “Searches and Lists,” “Lists: Election Tools,” and “Eligible to Vote” or “Eligible to Serve.” Those whose enrollments have not yet been recognized—and are therefore not eligible to vote for or serve on an Assembly—can be found by choosing “Member Mgt,” then “Pending Members.” Bahá’ís who have signed up for a Bahá’í Online Services Account may also verify their status by signing into the member services website (www.bahai.us) and choosing “Profile,” ”My Profile,” and “Digital ID Card.”

If they have current credentials (not over one year old) from their previous National Spiritual Assembly, they may vote and be considered eligible for election to an Assembly, pending completion of the transfer of their membership into the U.S. Bahá’í community. If they do not have current credentials from their previous National Assembly, they are not eligible to participate in elections until their status has been verified and their transfers completed.

Believers with mental impairments are eligible to vote for and serve on an Assembly unless they have been exempted by the National Assembly. If a Local Assembly feels that a community member is incapable of voting and/or serving (or that his or her behavior while serving on the Assembly is disruptive to the Assembly’s functioning), it may submit a detailed report and recommendation to the National Assembly. The approval process for such exemptions generally takes at least one or two months.

The membership of Bahá’í communities is sometimes affected by civil boundary changes, such that those who are eligible to serve on an Assembly one year may not be members of the same community the next year. The National Assembly should be notified of all civil boundary changes, and community membership lists should not be changed until approval from the National Assembly has been received.

The best source of current information on who is eligible to vote and to serve can be found in eMembership2 by selecting “Searches and Lists,” and “Lists: Election Tools.” If an individual’s withdrawal has been accepted, his or her name will no longer appear on these lists.

Individuals seeking reinstatement of their Bahá’í membership should contact, or have their Local Assembly contact, the National Assembly. Once they have been reinstated, this will be reflected in the eMembership2 lists noted above. Until then, they are not eligible to vote for, nor to serve on, the Assembly.

Assemblies should consider offering assistance with voting to community members who cannot speak English, cannot write, or, for whatever reason, have difficulty voting. For example, the Assembly may authorize a trusted individual to assist the voter in filling out a ballot in accordance with the voter’s wishes. For visually impaired voters, OBS provides online accessibility.

“This is entirely a matter of conscience, if the individual feels for some reason justified in voting for himself, he is free to do so.”                                              

(Shoghi Effendi, Principles of Bahá’í Administration, p. 47)

If there is a tie for the ninth position on the Assembly, and only one of the people who have tied represents a racial minority, that person is given priority without question. The National Assembly has determined that the question of what constitutes a minority for the purpose of resolving tie votes in Bahá’í elections must be determined according to race, not nationality or gender; and that it refers to being a minority in the U.S. population, not in the local Bahá’í community or on the Assembly. At this time, the following are identified as racial minorities: American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Black/African American, Latino/Hispanic, and Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander. The National Assembly also considers individuals of mixed race to be minorities. Persians and women are not considered minorities for the purpose of Bahá’í elections.

If none of the people involved in the tie represents a minority, or more than one of those who are tied represent a minority, or there is uncertainty regarding whether an individual involved in the tie should be considered a minority, the tie is to be resolved by those present at the election meeting casting a ballot to choose between those who have tied; but if only a small portion of the community is still present when the need for a re-vote is announced, a new election meeting is to be scheduled.

If an elected member had moved away prior to the election, the votes cast for that person must be considered invalid and the person with the next highest number of votes becomes a member of the Assembly.

The election should be considered valid unless the Assembly is notified by the National Assembly that it cannot be recognized. In any case, Assemblies may begin functioning immediately after they are elected.

Yes, these materials should be retained for at least six months in case questions arise.

No, in such a situation the Assembly should form by joint declaration, meaning that the members sign a “Local Spiritual Assembly Joint Declaration Report,” attesting that they agree to the Assembly’s formation. Communities forming an Assembly by joint declaration are strongly encouraged to update their eMembership2 information to confirm that exactly nine eligible Bahá’ís are listed as living in the community, which will facilitate the Assembly’s recognition. Any of the nine members who are not available on the First Day of Ridván may sign their names earlier or later. Alternatively, the willingness of a member to sign (as conveyed, for example, by phone) may be noted on the form in place of the signature.

If an Assembly is forming for the first time, all nine members need to sign or indicate their willingness to sign.  When an Assembly is re-forming by joint declaration, however, there is some flexibility and a member’s failure or refusal to take part in the declaration would not necessarily prevent the Assembly from being recognized. Questions about this may be referred to the Office of Community Administration at community@usbnc.org or 847-733-3485. 

For elections finalized through OBS, the results will automatically be forwarded to the eMembership2 system. For elections not finalized through OBS, the election or joint declaration should be reported to the National Assembly as soon as possible after the Assembly has been formed, and no later than April 30, 2025. It is preferable to submit the report electronically via eMembership2, but alternatively it may be submitted by email, fax, or postal mail, as noted on the report form, with the original or a copy being retained for the Local Assembly’s permanent records. Reporting the formation should not be delayed until after the election of officers. Permanent officers should then be elected and reported via eMembership2 or on the “Local Spiritual Assembly Officers’ Election Report” as soon as possible. A joint declaration requires sending the joint declaration report form to the National Assembly. If reporting with paper forms, they may be sent to the Membership Office by email (attached as a PDF, Word document, or photo to membership@usbnc.org), by fax (to 847-733-3543), or by mail (to: Membership Office, Bahá’í National Center, 1233 Central Street, Evanston, IL 60201-1611).

Generally, existing registered Bahá’í groups with two to eight adult believers in good standing are encouraged to re-form each year on the First Day of Ridván, and this is particularly important if the community’s membership has changed much since the group was last formed or if the group is getting close to having enough members to form an Assembly; but Bahá’í groups may carry over their existing officers, and groups may form or re-form at any time during the year.

To form or re-form a registered group, all community members who are at least 18 years old and not restricted or exempted from voting should be invited, at least 15 days in advance, to meet to elect or designate a group correspondent who will receive the group’s mail and email and whose contact information will be available to the public. Larger groups may wish to elect a chairman and treasurer as well. The officer(s) are then to be reported on a “Bahá’í Group Registration Form.”

Similarly, Local Assemblies that are not able to re-form because the community’s membership has fallen below nine adults, are encouraged to arrange a meeting at which group officers will be elected. If your Assembly is not able to re-form or to hold an election for group officers, please notify the Membership Office (at membership@usbnc.org or 847-733-3445), and the community will be changed from an Assembly to a registered group, with the officers of last year’s Assembly (if still in the community) being designated as the group’s officers.