It seems obvious. There are names on the ballot. We tap the screen or punch the card to elect a specific person to office.

And yet, when we talk about candidates, campaigns, and parties, we often act like something other than a person is on the ballot.

We think ideas, policies, or decisions are on the ballot. They aren’t, of course. But they certainly affect how people vote.

What else affects how people vote? How the candidates act, what they say, and how we predict they will act.

As obvious as all of this is, our reluctance to act like we believe it is telling. Because we so desperately want some reason why people would vote for an incompetent candidate or someone who would restrict their own rights.

We want it to be something else.

So we’re willing to personify an ideology, event, anything to make it not about the person on the ballot.

This isn’t only the people overlooking the weakness of their own candidate.

This is really what we’re saying when we say we want elections to be about policy, not personality. We want our candidates to leave their humanity at home so we can have a fashion show of legislative initiative!

It’s always best to remember that we’re always voting for people. Imperfect and frustrating people. Which isn’t a bad thing when we stop pretending we’re doing something else.

We might get more qualified people to run for office. And then, win or lose, we’re all better off.