Duties of Elected

Who is eligible to be elected:

Any Bahá’í in good standing, who is present at the Convention, 21 years of age or older, and who lives in the electoral unit is eligible for election as an officer of the Convention. [Members of the Continental Board of Counselors are exempt.]

Duties of the Convention chair:

The chair endeavors to foster a spiritually uplifting environment. An effective chair is an encouraging, patient, and inclusive communicator, familiar with the election process and the agenda. Responsible for the smooth flow of the agenda, the chair’s duties start immediately after he or she is elected. The chair should strive to maintain the appropriate spirit of the Convention and the proper atmosphere for Bahá’í consultation and the election of the delegate(s).

The Convention chair makes sure that the Convention secretary has the opportunity to read back to the attendees the recommendations and suggestions to ensure that they accurately convey the attendees’ desires. Recommendations should be clearly noted in the minutes.

The chair ensures that the Convention closes in a spirit that reflects the sacred nature of the gathering.

The Chairman…has certain duties and prerogatives in accordance with the responsibilities of the office to which he has been appointed. For example, he must use his judgment as to when, for the sake of preserving order and efficiency, to request persons to avoid repetitive statements or to shorten their remarks for lack of time.
(Letter dated November 3, 1986, written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice)

Who is eligible to be elected:

Any Bahá’í in good standing, who is present at the Convention, 21 years of age or older, and who lives in the electoral unit is eligible for election as an officer of the Convention. [Members of the Continental Board of Counselors are exempt.]

Duties of the Convention secretary:

The secretary takes notes on the proceedings of the Convention and describes the consultation in a manner that conveys both content and tone. It is important to note any Bahá’í visitors in attendance: Counselors, Auxiliary Board members, etc.

“Suggestions” represent issues and ideas that are presented during consultation but are not voted upon. They should be noted in the Convention minutes. “Recommendations” are outcomes of consultation that are approved by a majority vote. They should be carefully worded and read back to the Convention attendees to ensure that they accurately convey the attendees’ desires. The secretary should feel free to ask for recommendations and suggestions to be restated as consultation proceeds to ensure they are being accurately recorded in the minutes.

Recommendations and suggestions that relate to local Bahá’í communities should be noted as such in the minutes, a copy of which should be sent to the host Assembly.

Duties of the secretary after Convention

• types an entire set of minutes, in chronological order, and attaches it to the completed Secretary’s Report form, downloadable from the Unit Convention/Delegate Election page of Bahai.us (https://www.bahai.us/community/elections/unit-convention) and sends it by email to the Unit Convention Desk (unitconvention@usbnc.org) within the week after Convention, or through the US Postal Service if email is not available, and

• provides a copy of the minutes to the host Assembly to be shared with the Assemblies and registered Bahá’í groups in the electoral unit.

Who is eligible to be elected: 

Any Bahá’í in good standing, 21 years of age or older, and living in the electoral unit is eligible to serve as a delegate. [Members of the Continental Board of Counselors are exempt.]

If you are uncertain whether a person resides in your unit, please refer to the posted membership list. If voting through the Online Balloting System, search for those eligible by typing a few letters of their name, starting with their last name.

Duties of Delegate:

It would be impossible at this stage to ignore the indispensability or to overestimate the unique significance of the institution of the National Spiritual Assembly – the pivot round which revolve the activities of the believers throughout the American continent. Supreme is their position, grave their responsibilities, manifold and arduous their duties. How great the privilege, how delicate the task of the assembled delegates whose function it is to elect such national representatives as would by their record of service ennoble and enrich the annals of the Cause!
Letter written by Shoghi Effendi, dated June 3, 1925

Foremost is the election of your National Assembly, when you will choose individuals who can meet the pressing requirements of the progress of the Cause at the present stage of its development. Our letter dated 25 March 2007 was intended to strengthen the Bahá’í electoral process, and we urge you to give renewed consideration to its salient points. In the features and outcomes of this electoral process that distinguish it from contemporary practices we find not limitations, but dawning points of profound implication. The delegates, as well as the generality of the believers, uphold the purity of Bahá’í elections, scrupulously avoiding electioneering or discussion of who should or should not be a member, even when specific names are not mentioned; for not only does the Guardian prohibit reference to particular personalities, but he also states that "we should refrain from influencing the opinions of others." Collectively, the friends strive to purge themselves of every trace of worldly tendencies—pursuit of personal ambitions, promotion of individuals, contest, and partisanship—which can corrupt and distort an election's spiritual character. Delegates are obliged to become "intelligent, well-informed and responsible" electors so as to "be able to make a wise choice at the election time". They enjoy the unfettered right to choose from among all those eligible, whether it be to retain members or to select new ones. The community wholeheartedly embraces the result of the election, confident that the delegates have cast their ballots for those for whom prayer and reflection have inspired them to vote….

Shoghi Effendi stated that the National Convention should “fulfil the functions of an enlightened, consultative and co-operative body that will enrich the experience, enhance the prestige, support the authority, and assist the deliberations of the National Spiritual Assembly.” Although delegates are to offer their views in a full, frank, and unhampered manner, he advised that time not be spent on problems of secondary importance and that disruptive forces, “which are but the outcome of human passion and selfishness,” should be resisted. Instead, the Guardian expected those assembled to “approach their task with absolute detachment” and “concentrate their attention on the most important and pressing issues” in order to obtain a “deeper and broader vision of the Cause through an increase in the spirit of unity and of whole hearted co-operation.” “The unfettered freedom of the individual should be tempered with mutual consultation and sacrifice,” he explained, “and the spirit of initiative and enterprise should be reinforced by a deeper realization of the supreme necessity for concerted action and a fuller devotion to the common weal.”

Your consultations with the National Assembly at the Convention take place within the context of the larger set of relationships that bind the Plan’s three protagonists and must increasingly reflect the features of this distinctive conversation. Each year the Riḍván message sets the stage for the discussions at Convention by conveying a sense of the current progress of the Bahá’í world and the work that lies ahead. Your contribution, though free and frank, is not characterized by insistence on personal opinion. While there may be a wide range of important topics, attention to the progress of the Five Year Plan and the requirements of its remaining years cannot be neglected. You bring to the Convention insights gleaned from the conversation unfolding within your region. In this way, you enrich the perspective of the National Assembly and become informed of its hopes, challenges, and aims. You enhance your own understanding of the affairs of the Cause from a national perspective and rededicate yourself to the community’s common enterprise.

Message of the Universal House of Justice to delegates gathered at National Conventions, May 16, 2013