I would like to know the total cost to the taxpayer for holding our Presidential elections. That would include protection for the candidates, travel expenses(if paid for by the government), the cost of holding the elections themselves in November and whatever else I haven’t thought of.
All of this is going to be difficult and some will need clarification.
The President and VP are covered by the Secret Service. If the President is running for reelection or the VP is running to be elected, do you count that protection coverage as an election cost?
At the election and primaries, we vote for more than just the President or candidates for President. How much of the election cost do you want to attribute to the Presidential election?
If a Senator flies someplace on Senate business and we pay for his flight, but he also gives a campaign speech, do we count that expense? Allocate it? For that matter do we count a portion of a public official’s salary as a campaign expense if he’s flying around the country and not doing his elected job (I’m looking at you Christie – at least according to complaints I’ve heard.)
FWIW, candidates are not supposed to bill the government for campaign-related travel, they have to pay for it themselves or via their campaign fund. In actuality it gets more complicated. For example, when the President is campaigning and travels on Air Force One, his campaign fund reimburses the government for how much it would have cost to charter a plane for the same trip, proportionally reduced by the number of people not traveling for campaign purposes (e.g. Secret Service agents.)
Also, when it comes to primaries, you sometimes hear people pointing out that selections of candidates for president and other elective offices are a party matter, and if a party wants to run an election for it’s members to vote on who should be their candidate they ought to organize and pay for it themselves, not have the states foot the bill.
Would require some adjustment in a lot of states that tack non-partisan offices and referendums onto the primary ballot. Presumably, those would have to wait for the general election. It would also probably do away with the idea of open primaries, not to mention arrangements like California’s “jungle primary”, which was ruled unconstitutional for the presidential primary but still prevails for other offices.
Yes, I know, but you’ll note I said the Senator had Senate business at that location, but also does campaigning. Presumably this is a government expense. However, it would be difficult to determine if the Senator might not have made the trip if there had been no opportunity to campaign. I’m sure decisions at the margin are made like this all the time – just like combining a vacation with a business trip.