By David Kubal

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It seems that the Church starts to intercede for the presidential race a few months before the election. I can tell you first hand, as we have seen tremendous surges in activity on our prayer conference calls, sign-ups, etc. during past elections. Could it be that that is too late? It is during the primary season we see candidates drop out as their support wanes. This winnowing down of the choices in fact produces the eventual party nominee. Now is the time to be praying, because one of these candidates will be our next president. Our president has already been chosen – he/she will come from the list of candidates that are currently campaigning.

First a word or two about the primary season: The two major parties will have their conventions, and at their conventions their nominee will be chosen based upon the number of caucus votes they get during the primary season. The two parties have different rules. Per Democratic Party rules, primary and caucus events are allowed between February 1 and June 14, 2016. Delegate allocations are proportional between candidates earning at least 15 percent of the vote. The number of delegates needed for the nomination is 2,383. Per Republican Party rules, primary and caucus events are allowed between February 1 and June 11, 2016. Other than SC, allocations are proportional prior to March 15, 2016 and can be proportional or all-or-none thereafter. For proportional events, states can set a minimum vote threshold of up to 20 percent to receive any delegates, of which 1,237 will be needed for the nomination. (See 270towin.com for corroboration of this analysis.)

Votes are received through a state primary or a state caucus. The state primaries are fairly straight forward with winner take all the votes allotted to that state. The state’s rules that use the caucus system are very complex with virtually every state using a different process, but basically each person that is allowed one of the caucus votes decides whom they would like to vote for.

“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:1-4, NIV).

Now is the time to be praying!  Let us all pray that God would provide for us elected leaders who fear Him and provide for us the ability to lead quiet lives so that the Gospel might go forth.