“Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote,” said renowned American author and drama critic George Jean Nathan. I agree.

Voting is a national duty. I will be doing my national duty tomorrow. I believe all Jamaicans who are eligible to, should go out and vote tomorrow. American public advocate and acclaimed author DeForest Soaries famously said: “Voting is the foundational act that breathes life into the principle of the consent of the governed.” He is right.

There are some among us who mistakenly believe that posting messages on social media is tantamount to and the equivalent of, getting up, getting out and actively performing and fulfilling critical public duties. They are wrong. Cogent scholarship to date has found that social media and technology, including AI (artificial intelligence) cannot change the world minus the direction and mediation of human beings.

It is still “people who make the world go round”. Active participation by human beings is the lifeblood of functional democracies. Voting, said academician and priest Theodore Hesburgh, is a civic sacrament. I agree.

Our future, our fate

The Electoral Office of Jamaica (EoJ) says 2,001,759 Jamaicans are eligible to vote tomorrow in our 17th local government elections since we achieved universal adult suffrage in 1944. I believe those who sit at home and thumb their noses at our electoral process are, in effect, spitting in the faces of scores of Jamaicans who shed blood, sweat, and tears to secure the constitutional guarantee of the right to vote.

There was a time in this country when only white, male property owners had the right to vote. Courageous people, including some of our national heroes, gave their lives to change this unjust status quo. Those who sit on the fences and complain that the right to vote has succeeded merely in the replacement of an unjust status quo with an even more unjust one need to understand the history of slavery and colonialism in this country. There was a time when the majority black population was regarded as property and treated as such. There was a time when Britain was our boss in every sense of the word.

There are some among us who say they do not vote because they feel that by not voting they are in effect voting, meaning they are recording their disgust and registering their silent protest with the ‘system’. History has shown us time and time again that you cannot change that with which you are dissatisfied by becoming a social, political and economic hermit.

Recently, I heard a man of the cloth on local radio, praying for more of us to alienate ourselves from the electoral process. He prayed that tomorrow’s turnout would be so low it would effectively nullify the legitimacy of the election result. This pastor would do well to understand why rural folks say “God nuh answer bad prayers.”

Doubtless, there are others like him milling about the place. They should be reminded that Jesus famously said in Matthew 22:21, “They say unto him, Caesar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.”

I believe Christians should vote and vote for leaders who promote good values alongside the conscientious growth and development of our country. The fate and future of a country is not decided by prayers alone. Action, “works”, as the Bible instructs, must be accompanied by fervent prayers. James 2:26 is very clear on this point: “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”

There are those among us who say, “Mi nuh business wid politics and politics nuh business wid me.” They are mistaken. “Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you,” said Greek politician Pericles.

Politics is not the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and the People’s National Party (PNP). Politics is not Prime Minister Andrew Holness and or Opposition Leader Mark Golding. Politics is not the 21 members in the Senate and/or the 63 Members of Parliament in the Lower House. Politics is how we eat, the clothes we wear, the roads we use, the houses we live in, water quality, garbage collection, national education, security, the state of our economy, and I could go on. Politics determines every facet of our lives. We are married to politics. Politics is life.

Choose life

I believe we must choose life. Deuteronomy 30:19 implores us to choose life: “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and Earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!”

Within the context of representational politics, Deuteronomy here, as I see it, means we need to choose responsible leadership. Incidentally, there are some who believe the interpretation of scriptures should be examined only through unitary theological lenses. I believe they are wrong, very wrong. The societies of the
Bible existed in social, economic, and political contexts. The
Bible as I understand it was written in those contexts.

I hasten to make this important clarification because I anticipate that some will become angry, enraged even, at my juxtaposing of scriptures with local political decision-making. Casting a ballot after careful and critical examination of the important issues which affect our daily lives is a critical part of choosing life. Among other things this means we have to free ourselves from the historical handicaps of loyalty to party based on traditions, especially family allegiances.

We have to also free ourselves from leadership which makes promises without reference to the resources of the country. Those who are promising heaven and Earth over the next four years if they win the local government elections are con artists.

I have said it previously in this space, but it bears repeating, that a strong economy is a prerequisite for sustained growth and development of a country, whether at the local and/or national levels. Outlandish promises on the political hustings should be a red flag for all well-thinking Jamaicans. It is blindingly obvious, except maybe to those who are suffering with self-inflicted amnesia, political glaucoma, and related political afflictions that some have demonstrated frightening desperation in the campaign to control local government. To save their own political hides they have resorted to political chicanery, false promises, fake news, and pseudo mathematics. They mean Jamaica no good.

Not voting has consequences

On the matter of what is good for Jamaica. I believe that when we don’t vote we invite those who are not good for Jamaica to become our primary political decision-markers. This is an awful error.

Believe it, there are some among us who have no qualms about ensuring that the worst among us are set in the highest political and related offices to make the most important decisions.

Why do they do it? Simply, when these desperate types look into the mirror they often see their own reflections as an extension of the worst among us.

These individuals are always only too anxious to cast a ballot for their political puppeteers. They are also happy to resort to the lowest common denominator since self-aggrandizement is their primary objective. The political history of this country has clearly shown us that.

I believe it is not just a responsibility but the duty of every well-thinking Jamaican to reject those who forewarn us that they believe that gaining high and low political office by any means necessary is good for Jamaica’s growth and development.

Elections have consequences, someone famously said. It is a statement of fact. Those consequences are costly, literally so, especially in a developing economy like Jamaica.

Recently the Director of Elections Glasspole Brown said on radio that just over $1.2 billion was allocated to his office by the Ministry of Finance for the holding of the local government elections tomorrow. He noted that the EOJ is obliged to prepare for a 100 per cent turnout. That means they have to print a ballot for all eligible electors. In the last local government elections on November 28, 2016, there was a 30.6 per cent turnout. That means millions of precious taxpayer dollars that could have been used for other critical areas of need effectively went down the drain.

Brown noted that just over 30,000 people will be engaged tomorrow as election day workers, including presiding officers, poll clerks, supervisors, drivers, logistics coordinators, and handymen. All these peoples have to be paid. The holding of by elections, local government or general, is not cheap.

Some will, doubtless, say: “Cho, my one vote does not count.” They are wrong. In the last local government elections, for example, Rosalie Hamilton, a candidate for the JLP won her divisional contest, the Rae Town Division, in Kingston Central by a single vote. Every vote counts!

Voting is our individual and constitutional opportunity to register our voices on matters that are important to our daily lives. We must never give that up.

Calling radio talk shows and complaining when things go bad is good. Vociferously voicing our displeasure on our verandas is healthy for our democracy. Posting footage of angry demonstrators on social media is par for the course of good citizenship. But we also need to get beyond the comfort of anonymity and become active participants in helping to direct the development of our communities. Contrary to what some preach, withholding ones vote is not a viable solution. And divorcing ourselves from voting does not make anyone special or smart.

World-class electoral system

The days of corrupt elections are in the rear-view mirror. The days of miscreants stealing ballot boxes are behind us. And, most importantly, we have substantially and successfully uprooted the rotten super structures of pervasive and violent upheavals during election time.

Jamaica’s electoral system is one of the most respected in the world today. We owe a great debt to outstanding Jamaicans such as Professor Gladstone E. Mills (now deceased), the first chairman of the Electoral Advisory Committee (EAC), and former chairman of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) Professor Errol Miller. These and many other patriots expended a tremendous amount of personal time and energy to ensure that Jamaica’s electoral process was fit for purpose.

Former prime ministers Edward Seaga and Michael Manley also gave critical support to the development of the first-rate electoral system which we have today. Former chairman of the JLP Ryan Peralto, who was invested with the Order of Distinction, commander class (CD), for more than 20 years of service to the EAC, also played a pivotal role in our electoral reform process.

Of course, we would not have got the top-notch electoral system that we have today if hundreds of ordinary patriotic Jamaicans did not insist on its creation. They demanded it through dozens of letters to governments and the press, and through peaceful marches on Jamaica House, strong representations though civil society, and active community involvement, and personal sacrifices.

We owe it to our forefathers, ourselves, our children and country to go on and vote tomorrow.