WHY VOTE: Mark Your Ballot for Candidates with These Qualities

GUEST COMMENTARY

By Patrick Colbeck, COO, Lindell Management and Former Michigan

State Senator

August 17, 2026

When you vote, you're not just picking a name on a ballot; you're deciding what kind of person will hold power on your behalf.

Of the qualities that matter in a representative — interest, ability, and integrity — integrity is the one that matters most, because our system of government is built on delegating real authority to people we trust to use it well.

Understanding why that delegation works the way it does, and why integrity has to be the deciding factor, starts with the structure of the government itself.

Why We Delegate Power at All

Article IV, Section 1 of the Michigan Constitution vests the state's legislative power in the Senate and House of Representatives. That authority comes with two important caveats.

The first caveat: the people retain direct power. 

Michiganders can propose constitutional or statutory changes and can hold referendums on legislation the legislature has already passed. In 2022, Promote the Vote used this authority to pass Proposal 2, which weakened election integrity by removing restrictions on early voting, drop boxes, and absentee voting and by giving the Secretary of State full control over statewide audits.

In 2012, voters used the same referendum power to reject the Emergency Manager law, which was meant to address local governments (like Detroit) that chronically spent more than they took in.

The second caveat: the Governor's emergency powers. 

Under the Emergency Management Act, the Governor has limited executive authority during a declared state of emergency — as we saw recently with the emergency declaration for Oakland County.

Even with these two carve-outs for direct citizen action, most lawmaking power rests with elected representatives not with voters directly. That's a deliberate design choice, and understanding why reveals what we should actually be looking for in the people we elect.

A Republic, Not a Democracy

Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution guarantees Americans a republican form of government, not a pure democracy.

Our Founders were wary of direct democracy, where citizens vote on every law themselves. Benjamin Franklin put it bluntly: democracy is like "two wolves and a lamb deciding what's for lunch." Benjamin Rush went further, calling it "mobocracy."

The Founders understood that pure democracies are especially vulnerable to the passions of self-interest — passions that can be stirred up by whoever controls the flow of information.

A constitutional republic works differently. Citizens elect representatives to write the laws within the bounds the constitution sets. Those representatives aren't immune to manipulation either, but they typically have more resources and authority to dig up the information needed for sound decisions, information ordinary citizens often can't easily access.

Schools rarely teach the difference between a democracy and a constitutional republic, but understanding it is essential to using our government responsibly.

The Mechanic Analogy

Here's a way to think about it. Say your car breaks down. You can fix it yourself or take it to a shop.

Fixing it yourself gives you full control over cost, timing, and quality, but it costs you time you'd otherwise spend on other things, and you may lack the skill or tools to do it well.

Taking it to a shop means handing over control to the mechanic, but the mechanic's work is bounded by the agreement you signed before any work began.

Either way, your decision comes down to three things: interest, ability, and trust. 

Those are the same three things we use to evaluate candidates for office. And once someone is elected, how they govern comes down to their interest, ability, and — above all — their integrity.

Why Integrity Matters Most

This is where the mechanic analogy breaks down in one important way: a bad mechanic costs you money, but a legislator without integrity costs you self-government. A legislator's day-to-day conduct is shaped largely by his or her integrity.

At one end of the scale, legislators can stay in good standing simply by showing up to sessions and pushing "yea" or "nay" on whatever comes to the floor. When there's no session, they can go home — or on trips with the lobbyists eager to help them decide which button to push next.

At the other end are legislators who treat their oath of office as a real commitment to serve others before themselves. These are the ones who hold regular office hours to hear constituent concerns and who do the hard work of writing legislation or conducting oversight to actually address those concerns.

Legislators who live up to that second model are, unfortunately, rare — which is exactly why citizens increasingly turn to their constitutional right to file initiatives and referendums themselves.

Choose Carefully

Pick the mechanic you trust to do the job right and look out for your interests not just the one who tells you what you want to hear.

Exodus 18:21 offers a voting guide as relevant today as ever: "Select capable men from all the people — men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain — and appoint them as officials."

Choose wisely.