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Preaching to the Choir

Evangelism can be an uncomfortable business if you don't come from an evangelical tradition. As an Episcopalian, I often heard people joke that while we were in the Decade of Evangelism, no one knew, because it was just too unseemly to toot our own horn.

In Howard County there is a narrow swath of people who read blogs regularly. And of those, a narrower swath read my blog regularly. But of that select group, I am guessing that a majority are regular and faithful voters.

You are, right? You know about the League of Women Voters, yes? You are probably even fabulously up-to-date with the new social media voter tool from Jessie Newburn at HoCoBlogs.

Have you voted yet? I am voting tomorrow with my daughter, the one who just bought the house in Stevens Forest. In fact, I may bring my younger daughter as well. You can't start too young.

I admit that writing yet again about voting very likely constitutes one more go-around at preaching to the choir. But this time, it is about evangelism.

Yes, that uncomfortable word. I want you to reach out to people around you and encourage them to vote: family, friends, coworkers, members of your church, neighbors. I want you to be the crucial connection between the people and their most precious right.

If not you, who?

This primary will be deciding so many important things locally and at the state level. And in particular, it is crucial that as we narrow the field for the Board of Education, that the candidates who make it through to the November elections are ones who understand their responsibility to voters.

We get to decide. But only if we choose to decide.

It seems as though I am always asking you to write letters in aid of something. Today I am not. Today I am reminding you that friends don't let friends sit out the election. Be an evangelist for community involvement.

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