WHO: Howard County residents from across faith, race, socioeconomic
background, language, and geography
Candidates for office. Currently confirmed:
County Executive: Vanessa Atterbeary, Bob Cockey, Deb Jung, Liz
Walsh
County Council: Cat Carter,Linfeng Chen, Kevin Chin, Janssen Evelyn, Arinze
Ifekauche, Amir Naviwala, Jessica Nichols, Felita Phillips, Christiana Rigby,
Jean Xu
Board of Education: Mark Covington, Linda Frascarella, Lanlan Xu
State Delegate: Amy Brooks, Pam Guzzone, Abdun Matin, Gabriel Moreno
WHEN: Thursday, June 11, 2026
6:00–6:30 pm, followed by voting
WHERE: Parking lot of St. John Baptist Church
9055 Tamar Dr, Columbia, MD
WHY: to promote voter turnout, educate residents on the candidates, emphasize the importance of local elections.
I received the following from local advocacy group PATH. (I’ve written about them before.) PATH selects their priorities for action based on member and community input. They educate, encourage and foster community participation in local affairs, centering their activities in these chosen priorities.
PATH Rallies Howard County Residents to Vote Early in June 23 Primary Elections
People Acting Together in Howard (PATH), part of the Maryland Just Power Alliance*, is hosting an early voting event with St. John Baptist Church on June 11th ahead of the June 23rd primary elections.
This year will see large turnover in county leadership, with the current County Executive term limited and every County Council seat up for election. The primary election is likely to determine several of these races.
PATH is using the event to promote voter turnout and educate residents on the candidates, emphasizing the importance of local elections. In the last midterm elections, only 27% of eligible voters in Howard County voted in the primaries.
During a brief program in the parking lot, PATH speakers will emphasize the need to vote in the primary elections to address housing affordability and other community issues that PATH has identified through listening sessions with over 700 residents. Candidates will be recognized during the program.
Attendees will then have the opportunity to vote inside the church, which is an early voting site for all county districts. The polls are open until 8 pm.
All candidates for Howard County offices, including Council, Executive, and Board of Education, are invited to attend. All four candidates for County Executive have confirmed their attendance, as well as many candidates for County Council, Board of Education, and State Delegate.
PATH has published candidates’ responses to their nine-question questionnaire on housing, support for immigrants, and other issues on their website: pathmaryland.org.
*****
What are your values? What can you do to put them into action? In a time of national turmoil and chaos, many folks feel powerless. Yet the most significant power that we have to effect change is in our hands as we vote. Don’t throw that power away.
Our Votes, Our Power, Our Values
*People Acting Together in Howard (PATH), part of the Maryland Just Power Alliance, is a community power organization representing thousands of individuals in Howard County. We organize people in congregations, schools, and neighborhoods across lines of race, class, and religion to build power for policies that help everyone in our communities thrive.


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