Voters ace the midterms -- but quality of candidates still earns an incomplete

The non-participants are no small tribe. Many analysts agreed that turnout in this week's elections could approach 50 percent. That would be the best showing in midterms since the 1960s.

But our expectations are so low that we applaud when only half of registered voters turn out to vote.

And besides the no-shows, there are also the non-registered. Generally, only about half of eligible voters even bother to register.

I follow Simpson's law. I take part. As a journalist, my Election Day is busy. So, I make sure to vote in the morning. And yet, as a journalist, I also make it my business to understand the disgust of non-voters.

In fact, in recent presidential elections, I have been so disappointed in the choices that I opted for "none of the above."

In 2012, with Barack Obama and Mitt Romney each pretending to be something they weren't, I urged readers to "skip the [top] line" -- i.e., vote for every office and initiative on the ballot, but not for president. That's what I did.

In 2016, I resolved not to be bullied into choosing between arsenic and cyanide. On Election Day, I entered the booth and wrote in a name. It's liberating to not to have to defend your vote for the lesser evil -- which, by definition, is still evil.

This year, evil was back on the ballot -- along with incompetence. In recent months, both of the major parties showed, at times, that they are not mature enough to handle unbridled power.

Democrats hurt themselves with the disrespectful way they treated Brett Kavanaugh. And for what? A report released this past weekend from the Senate Judiciary Committee concluded that there was "no evidence to substantiate any of the claims" of sexual misconduct leveled against the Supreme Court nominee.

On immigration, Republicans likewise behaved atrociously. They went from misleading voters about whether there are "sanctuary cities" where illegal immigrants live happily ever after to stoking fear over an "invasion" of migrants and refugees armed only with despair and desperation.

Things are bad out there, folks. So, going forward, let's cut the non-voters a break -- and worry more about electing the kind of people who are worth voting for.

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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com. His daily podcast, "Navarrette Nation," is available through every podcast app.