Evangelical leaders are making their final appeals for believers to pray and vote on Election Day, as the nation makes its choices for leadership from the president to community officials.

In a Facebook post yesterday, Franklin Graham called this “the most important election in the history of our nation. Join me in praying that God’s will be done.”

Already, historic numbers of people have voted early, with significantly higher early voting by Republican voters than in the 2020 elections.

But a national survey released last month by the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University indicated that nearly half of “theologically defined born-again Christians” said they were unlikely to vote.

James Dobson, speaking on the Nov. 4 edition of Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk broadcast, argued that sitting out the election is shortsighted.

“With all respect, this election isn’t about you,” he said. “It certainly isn’t about me. It’s about our kids and grandkids. It’s about those who are yet to come, if they’re allowed to live. This vote has awesome implications for future generations and the nation we love. It is about our Constitution and the immutable God-given rights that it protects. It is about values and truth and greatness and hope. That is why the notion of choosing a president based on frivolous personality characteristics is so unfortunate. Pray like never before that God will spare this great nation from tyranny and oppression of religious liberty. And God bless America.”

Many observers believe election results may not be clear for days, due to election laws in places like the battleground state of Pennsylvania, which prohibits the counting of mail-in ballots until Election Day. Polls have consistently shown that the presidential race is much too close to call, with Donald Trump and Kamala Harris running neck and neck, typically within the polls’ margins of error. And that only heightens the urgency that Christians take the time and effort to vote.

“Some races will be decided by a handful of votes,” said Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council on This Week on the Hill. “As Christians, we have been given a responsibility: to cast our vote and to do so in such a way that truth will be advanced, or at a minimum, not hindered by policies that run counter to Biblical truth.”

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