During every major, political, campaign season of my adult life I have heard people declare: “It is the independent voters who will determine the outcome of this election.” The 2018 mid-term elections were no exception. With 40-50% of voters not willing to declare their party, it seemed to make polling even more challenging.  It left party leaders in government very unsure about their future. But do independent voters really have that much power?

Leandra Bernstein of the Sinclair Broadcast group thought so. One the eve of the 2018 election she wrote: 

If history is a guide, the party that secures the largest margin of independent voters controls Congress. As Republican and Democratic enthusiasm crests ahead of the official opening of polls Tuesday morning, it’s the less predictable independent voters who will be the most likely determining factor in the midterms.

Control of the House of Representatives has flipped three times in the last 25 years and each time, it was the party that rallied the largest share of independent voters that won the majority. In 1994, independents favored Republican candidates by a 14-point margin, enough to usher in a GOP majority. In 2006, Democrats regained the majority with an 18-point lead among independents. And in 2010, Republicans won independent voters by a margin of 19 percent and control of the House.

Evidently on November 6, 2018 a good number of independent voters were convinced to vote Democrat when it came to their state representative, because the voters returned control of the house to the Democrats.

Watching elections play out in the real world reminded me of a much more important struggle that is playing out, on a daily basis, all around us. The party of good and the party of evil are in competition. They both court voters. They both launch campaigns to convince independent voters to join their cause. The battle is fierce because each side understands that the world is only as good or evil as people choose to make it. Whenever enough independent people whole-heartedly follow the teachings of Jesus, nations are changed, communities are safer and families work better. Whenever people choose to love rather than hate, riots are diffused, marriages are reconciled and children sleep more soundly. 

Unfortunately, there is a misconception afloat; many people blame God for the evil that is in the world. They wonder how a good God could let so many bad things happen. They err in not understanding the system. God gives every human being a vote. You and I are independent voters, until we choose sides. Unlike Satan, God does not try to control and enslave people by hook or crook.  God runs an honest campaign, and waits to see how people choose. God’s kingdom prospers to the extent that people choose his ways. Life is made better when more people humble themselves and accept God’s ways. So, if evil abounds, don’t blame God, blame the independent voters.