Another election day is upon us, but for many the question lingers: Why vote?

Many of you reading this may even be asking, there’s an election today?

No, the President isn’t on the ballot, neither are the members of the U.S. House or Senate.  Unless you live in Kentucky, Louisiana, or Mississippi, there’s not even a gubernatorial election.  You can add Virginia and New Jersey for some state legislative races.

But for most of the country, there are numerous local elections taking place – Mayoral races, school board elections, local referenda, and the like.

Each of these races can have profound effects on our education system, how our tax dollars are spent, and on and on.

Regardless of the election, it’s our responsibility to vote – especially as Christians.  We’ve been blessed to live in a nation where we have not only the opportunity but the responsibility to select our leaders.

The direction of our nation, our state, our city/county, or our local school is the direct result of our vote.  In the end, “We the people” are accountable for that vote.

As I’ve written before:

I’m reminded about Jesus telling the Parable of the Talents:

In it he tells the story of a man who has three servants.  To each one he gives a different number of talents (in this story, money).  One he gave five talents.  One he gave two talents.  And the last servant he gave one talent.  The first two servants went right to work, investing and producing great returns, so much so that they each doubled their investments.

When the man returned and called them to account for what they did with the talents he gave them, he was very pleased with the first two servants.  Yet the third servant, who had been given one talent, had buried it in the ground and then returned it to the master without even trying.  He was afraid because of how much he knew his master expected and was either too scared or too lazy to do anything with it.

The master was enraged because the servant did nothing with the blessing he received; he didn’t even try.

Jesus concluded the parable with these powerful words:

“For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.  Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

In America, the land of the free, we’ve been given the blessing of self-governance.  We’ve been given the five talents.

If we as people of faith fail to exercise our right to vote – the responsibility that comes with the blessing of freedom – we will have wasted it.  We will have buried our talent in the ground.

So even if it’s just for dog catcher, and even if it’s uncontested, that office is your responsibility.  It’s more than a civic duty; it’s a moral imperative.

So get out and vote.

Matthew Clark is Senior Counsel for Digital Advocacy with the ACLJ. Follow Matthew Clark: @_MatthewClark.