when voting strains your conscience

It strikes me just now how the act of casting a vote is such a simple thing in itself that takes very little time to do, yet it also carries with it a level of complexity that is beyond our understanding and, quite frankly, has the capacity to strain one’s conscience immeasurably.

This year we have a number of unusual stressors that complicate the matter, not the least of which is the ever-present threat that a dangerous disease poses to our physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. The stakes seem incredibly high.

As I am preparing to submit my ballot early, it occurs to me how even the option to abstain from voting altogether does not relieve the pressure that is inherent in the election season itself. One can never escape the question as to whether one’s choice to vote or not to vote is contributing to the flourishing of the common good or its diminishment.

This is when (and why) I appeal to grace. Grace reminds me that all I can do is the best I can do, but even my best falls short of perfection. Grace invites me to muster all the strength, wisdom, and compassion I possess, but even these qualities have their limits because…I’m human. Sometimes, I am weak, foolish, and ignorant to the plight of others. The best I can do, thus, is to incline my will to the heart of God, looking to grace to help me grow in wisdom and compassion, to push back the darkness that would willfully harm others.

The Jesus-prayer puts it simply: “Not my will, but Yours be done.” God, give me your heart of love for people—all people—and all created things, so the whole world may flourish and so I may be an agent that contributes to the flourishing of all things.

Thus, the appeal to grace contains no hint of fatalism or determinism. Grace empowers us. Nor is grace some kind of free pass to do whatever we want, though grace does offer redemption when we have chosen poorly. Grace, rather, offers redemption so we may be free to choose the good, liberated from the prison of listless indifference. Our actions matter; so, to live in grace is to consider well how we can act in accordance with the graces of truth, goodness, and beauty.

As we prepare to vote, it’s important to do the best we can by educating ourselves as to the systemic implications of our vote and, at the same time, to realize that no vote can be considered “perfect” to this end. In other words, it is good for one to vote according to one’s conscience but it is also important to vote with humility. I do believe that somewhere in the middle of that measured confidence and an ever-deepening concern for the wellbeing of others…is grace.

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when voting strains your conscience

reflections by troy cady

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*Photo by Element5 Digital via Unsplash. Creative Commons License.