Our vote is a personal thing, and many of us consider it very private. Great steps are taken to preserve privacy in the voting booth, yet many of us take to social media, letters to the editor and coffee shops to proclaim our choice.

The point is that all of us own our vote. It is a right, but also a privilege. I believe the founding fathers of our nation assumed that nearly all of us would vote and that we’d consider our votes carefully. I will leave it to others to hash out all of that, but I want to use this space to encourage Texas Farm Bureau members to vote. Not only that, I hope you’ll carefully examine the positions of candidates and compare theirs with yours.

Evaluate the candidates. Ask questions. Do research and vote for the candidates you feel you can best support.

We started the process with our own candidate evaluation. This is what the choices of our AGFUND political action committee mean: Our county Farm Bureau leaders have reviewed the candidates and made decisions on whether AGFUND would endorse a candidate and which candidate. The positions of the candidates on the issues have been carefully examined with regard to Texas Farm Bureau policy. We are recommending candidates who share agriculture’s concern on key issues. We hope the information here will be of help to you when you prepare to exercise your right to vote.

Early voting starts in Texas on Feb. 16, and the primary election is March 1. This right of voting is ours, and it doesn’t cost any money. However, it was and is not free. It has been quite expensive, in fact. It cost us the blood and lives of heroes. Stand up. Be counted. Please vote.

Sincerely,

Russell Boening, President
Texas Farm Bureau AGFUND