One of the issues that gets brought up regularly is how all of that is paid for.

While legally obligated to be disclosed, campaign donations and expenditures can be a confusing labyrinth of regulations, connections, insinuations and suspicions. Some people choose to delve deeply into the numbers, often picking and choosing only the items that strengthen their own views.

You’ve probably seen such things highlighted frequently in advertisements and social media posts: “Don’t vote for Candidate A because they got donations from Group B” or “The disclosures show that Candidate C is just a puppet of special interests” or other similar scare tactics.

But, really when you get down to it, what does it all mean?

I often hear people touting the directive: “Follow the money!”

What often seems to get lost in the political melee, however, is the overall path the money takes.

First, it comes from people.

“Not always!” some might retort. “Sometimes it comes from companies or political action committees!”

My response is “what are those organizations made up of?”

People.

Some are individuals who are employed by a business while others are individuals who are coming together to support what they believe is important — but they are still just people, like you and me.

Now let’s take a second to look at where the money donated to political campaigns is going to go.

Does it go directly to the candidates? No.

It is used purchase the aforementioned signs, mailers and advertisements. When you think a your neighbors who work at printing shops or the postal service, it’s clear that such expenditures are economically beneficial for many — whether you agree with what is printed or not.

So even the usage of the donations (which also has to be documented) makes a difference for people, because that’s who gets paid to do the work.

Should it be used to directly buy votes? Definitely not. Anyone caught doing that should certainly be prosecuted.

Should it be used to enrich the candidate? Again, definitely not. That definitely not what campaign contributions are for.

But they are a way for individuals (or groups of individuals) to express their believe that a certain candidate is going to do a good job in the position they are running for.

And you or I can do it as well, on our own or collectively. That’s part of the guarantees of living in country with the freedoms we enjoy.

The bottom line, though, is that in our representative republic, the job of our representatives — even in local positions like as mayor or on the city council — is to do the best they can for their communities.

And just because you or I may not agree on what is best doesn’t mean they aren’t doing exactly that. No one can please everyone all of the time.

I don’t think campaign contributions should be ignored or unregulated. I think there are very good reasons for them to be made public (I’d like to see groups that aren’t part of official campaigns but still get involved in promoting or attacking candidates have similar transparency requirements, but that is a more complicated issue).

But I also think too often campaign finances are highlighted to attempt to manipulate voters but only spotlighting certain things without fairly looking at the whole picture.

Every eligible voter has a right to decide what matters to them. You could choose who you vote for based on a flip of a coin or which candidate you think has the better smile, and neither I nor anyone else can tell you not to do it that way.

I do, however, encourage all of us to be more engaged than that. I think our communities deserve to have us analyze and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate, and then select the ones we think will be best.

Campaign contributions are just one element of that. Taking the time to understand what they really mean (not just what either proponents or opponents want you to think they mean) is just part of our civic duty as voters.

Jared Lloyd is the managing editor of the Daily Herald.