that's of they call the, the cost of everything that's up next and we'll leave back, let's hopefully out with what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have. it's crazy confrontation, let it be an arms. race is often very dramatic. development only personally. and getting to resist, i don't see how that strategy will be successful, very difficult time to sit down and talk ah, ah

ah ah, the the news the free and fair elections are the cornerstone of democracy, giving citizens a voice in their government in the most fundamental way,

but our elections today truly free and fair, or have they evolved into a game of money politics as parties grow increasingly devices? i'm christy and you're watching the cost of everything where today we're going to be taking a look at election. how much does it cost or countries to host election? what is all the money spent on and are they truly free and fair? ah, the political spending in the us 2020 election total 14.4 $1000000000.00, which is more than double the total cost of the previous record breaking 2016 election cycle. so where does all that money go? well, over half of it goes to media and advertising on television, radio news, outlets, web as and social media about 15 percent of that goes towards fundraising efforts

to bring in more donors and sponsors. 20 percent then goes towards administrative costs and salaries for the campaign. managers and consultants. and the last 12 percent goes towards the campaign expenses such as consulting event surveys. so in 2020, there was a total of $8500000000.00 spent on over $9300000.00 tv as radio and digital media. now, one can argue that this chunk of money was completely wasted as the us easily outspend every other country in the world. but without producing an election, that is in any way more fair or free a lot of spending, but very little substance as the exceptional amount of time and money does not produce in engaging democratic process. the u. s. ranks near the bottom in terms of voter participation when compared with others developed nations. now in comparison, india's last general election cost $7000000000.00 with most of the budget going

towards social media as and travel. now when the relative population of both countries are taken into account 300000000 in the u. s. versus $1300000000.00 and india, the per capita spending is way out of line with that of the world's largest democracy . now, in germany, campaigns only last 6 weeks, so while there is no limit on campaign contributions, there simply isn't enough time to run up a huge bill. parties are given air time on to public television networks and usually makes just 190. second, add to convey their message during those slots. meanwhile, in the u. k. election spending is strictly limited, and each party cannot spend more than $30000000.00 pounds in the year before the election. now in the u. s, a big portion of this outrageous budget comes from dark money, which is contributions from donors that remain hidden from the public. the amount

of dark money, the u. s. spent in an off year was almost 3 times as much as the $30000000.00 pounds great britain spent. and far more. let's bring in professor chara, taurus, spell a, c author, and law professor at stetson law. so 1st stop. how do you as election, campaigns spend their money? so there are $2.00 ways of thinking about the cost of elections. one is the cost to administer elections, and that's estimated to be about $2000000000.00 for a general election and the united states. cost of the federal action was over $14000000000.00 and why our elections so expensive and efficient and which countries have a better model. ah, the united states has expensive election administration because we have so many

different entities that are administering elections. so we have a level of federal oversight which is actually quite small. most of election administration is administered at a hyper, a local level. so one way to think of the american election is that it's not just one election. it's really 10000 different elections running simultaneously. now it looks like there's been a decline in load or turn out in the us. what caused this and why are some voter turnout so much higher in other countries like singapore, with 95 percent out. so voter turnout was actually up in 2020. that was a very unique election. one of the things that res turned out in the 2020 election is states to rely voting rules to accommodate voters during the pandemic.

but what states have done in the last 2 years is many of the same states that relaxed their rules in 2020 of tighten them again. now we saw an unprecedented level of political ad spending in 2020. do you think this was an effective use of funds and does it set a precedent for future campaigns going forward? so in the area of campaign finance, nearly action has been more expensive than the previous presidential action. and we definitely saw that pattern in 2020, which was the most expensive federal election the united states has ever seen. so the trend of american elections costing more and more in terms of campaign finance is a trend that's continuing. it's hard to know how you measure efficiency in this context. i mean, you can look at the amount of money that is spent per vote. and the,

the candidates, you end up spending the most per voter are the vanity candidates. so for example, when connie west ran for president in 2020, he had one of the highest cost per voter because very few people ended up voting for him. even though he and his team had spent millions of dollars. but it's difficult to think of elections in terms of that type of efficiency because there are other values at stake including democratic values. so one of the reasons that we have such high spending in us elections is our supreme court thinks of money equalling speech. and under our 1st amendment, the supreme court has been unwilling to regulate, in a very serious way the,

the expenditures that are made in our elections. and not all elections are fair. there are many cases of electoral fraud. voters suppression unbalanced campaign finance rules and invalid access to media in what country or countries do we see the most of that? so one of the, i think really pernicious myths that persists about american elections, which was perpetuated by ex president trump while he was president, is that there's ramp and voter fraud. this is a mess. and unfortunately millions of his followers believe this mess. and so, for example, after the 2020 election, there were over 60 law suits that challenge boats in swing states in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election. and the accusation was often that there

was voter fraud. but in these court cases, they could not prove any voter fraud and voter fraud in reality is a really rare occurrence. you know, every now and then you will get someone who's not qualified to vote voting. and occasionally you get some knuckleheads somewhere who tries to vote twice the people who try to vote twice. and people who vote when they are not qualified, usually get caught after the fact and prosecuted. but those prosecutions are more rare than being struck by lightning. so it's not a real problem in the united states, but the rhetoric around it would lead many americans to believe it is. and what exactly constitutes as voter fraud? well, so for example, in my state in florida we are very strict rules on ex

felons getting their voting rights back. and so if you are an ex felon, and you haven't done all of the steps to get your voting rights restored and you vote than that's an illegal vote. and so that is one of the examples of what could be prosecuted after the fact. ah, if someone votes when they're not allowed to vote. and then again, there have been examples here in florida. there's this place called the villages. it's very conservative. and a number of individuals in the villages were prosecuted for voting twice. and that is the type of voter frog we get, but that was essentially 3 individuals in the villages getting caught doing that out of millions of votes in the state of florida. thank you so much,

professor char, taurus, spell a see for your time today. now one of my african elections, how much does it cost to run an election and some of the african nation and is the cost higher? we'll have more after the break. ah, lou needs to come to the russian state will never be tied as on the north side scheme div, asking him then i'll send them up for a week within the 55. would this be okay, so 9 is 25 and speaking with ben in the european union, the kremlin media machine,

the state on russia for date and square r t spoke neck. even our video agency, roughly all band to on youtube, with some nation may be able to turn a blind eye to atrocities and other countries. the united states of america is different wherever people long to be free. they will find a friend in the united states. ah, with me you love to have it out by the body of the vaults. anybody? basie?

so the city, if you draw, you look at the book they incentives of each cigarettes, p color revolutions, is one among several means to reach the goal of conquering foreign lands and bringing them onto the help of u. s. western economic interests. people inside it, i didn't that he did to that group valley, the democrats. yeah. lou trinity corps sol, suite best say low, their soft bower america. the final goal of these thing revolutions is to ensure that there are no independent players in the world anymore. oh look forward to talking to you all that technology should work for people. a robot must obey the orders given by human beings, except where such order that conflict with the 1st law show your identification. we should be very careful about artificial intelligence at that point. obviously is too great truck rather than fair with take on various

jobs with artificial intelligence. real. somebody with a robot must protect its own existence with what are you crazy? yes. or took a look and i lost most of my friends did. i was broken. i wasn't able to save anyone. i did nothing that i met wilson 2030 and god. what's really in my way to make me

start talking to willy waiting for me with him. i'm happy that i'm you. find is really little john. you can go to sleep. my mother, he become my new friend. the one was love gonna die or i was, he is. i would stay alive. they next to me. if i'm not crazy enough, i'm not gonna make it the welcome back. african elections are also remarkably expensive to run and yet they are very contested. between $22018.00, it is estimated that africa spent approximately $44000000000.00 on holding

elections. countries in africa spend on average $4.50 per capita on their elections compared to the world average of $2.10 per person. now, while the u. s. is cost is high due to ramp and spend the on as and no limits from campaign donors. africa elections are expensive for a very different reason. lack of trust. the cost of running elections in africa has been pushed up by low levels of trust in the electoral process to manage miss trust . some have turned to foreign companies to print out balance with expenses, security features like those used on bank notes. others have procured costly electronic voting machines to minimize fraud, setting the taxpayer back. but unfortunately, the votes were still contested. kenya's 2022 election, for instance, cost the state $370000000.00 to run, yet was still contested at the supreme court with the losing candidate alleging

criminality. the country's previous election in 2017 cost $500000000.00 and saw the presidential results nullified due to quote serious irregularities. so while countries in africa started opening up to democracy 3 decades ago, the region is still characterized by weak institutions, manipulation of electoral law, and serious limitations of civil and political rights. all of that contributes to low level of trust in a fair and free election. and voters and candidates do not believe in the institutions, processes and structures behind an election. then there is little that a new high tech, innovative moni machines that can do to help. and for more or less bring in reginald strasser, king journalist, and senior producer at sierra leon broadcasting corporation. so reginald, what is the cost of elections in other countries? and how does that compare with that of the us?

why do you see in our system what we're doing, these are to be, you know, a mentor. you mentioned the new compassion elections. and so it's a combined connections for all of the representatives. and then in for you and i would love to know the next presentation of generations. cost of. busy $28000000.00 an hour and the government the. busy government contribution was about $11000000.00 of the rescue from the international community . and you see that kind of murder? i didn't know whether you guys, because you say in america as to australia we, you are, we are close all these lectures rather than having

a single presidential election at one time. now how our elections run in other countries to keep on getting days off and what kind of laws i they're surrounding election days. let me rephrase my answer to that question. that our initial system is governed by the 1st before the constitution, and then the various individuals on these bonds up to the inner joint commission or for a new which superintendents or supervisors, the election which overseas the elections now coming to representation, we are going to cut a what over the candidates for the dimensions for the presidential problem, many us one of the counselors and regional believe and electra. electra electra is a to teach all representatives. she come from religious groups all from tribe. no,

we don't believe that, but we believe in how would we have to change based on the membership to a project or somebody, be in good, ready. you are destroying probably in the us. you all the republicans and democrats and them on to see a feeling can on the last time she brought to reach linda, what happened to work, but here in syria, re em all been tang political parties, but there's 2 strongest ah, the other people, scott with abc under the s and p o box with the strategy was part. these are the 2 strongest projects here. of course of recent times have been challenged by a peer to see like the and all the

rest of it. but sounds like maybe we can save goes a boost party fell on strip godson that, ah, seems to be suffering from m resolution. and now there is a growing we're calling to prohibit machine loading and mission counting ballots and feature elections. and instead revert back to hands counting, what do you make of these concerns and i, they valid. i leo and the lectures commission is by hazardous one's ability of supervising the lectures. and we have lectures, observers ah, form from the internet of. busy i'd look a little as well as in the international community as well. remember, i told you that we have a blank on the open, you know, the british government to the american government. you know, the,

did all said electro represent. electra observe. united nation is this in the next out of to see to want to relations. but again on whether this election is ah, monitored to the 80. when it auto renew that up to the last continent, the declaration of the reserves and civil it's a finish. but then, and sometimes you are put to lecture disagreement. yeah, i'm dad, one of those will actually does a sacrifice on the observers, but of the bags and leave the aggrieved father. if it's so in class, we'll decide to take the bottle to the court for a legal room. if be cut off because of

one reason know that and so mom back to disease, we know it's very much. but today, or that mindset of change and elections have gotten more and more polarized and recent years, it was very evident. and the reason you s election and is also now the brazilian election. why hasn't gone so polarized and contentious? well, i guess i didn't read the wrong word, john dressed because i'm going to watch the american stream to jump in. but it's a matter of on sunday. and then you're looking at the 6 rounds of the screen commenting on what our interview was.

supporters. david johnson, i found the republican supporters in general. i don't think we're going to go to thank you so much reginald strauser king journalist and senior producer at sierra leon broadcasting corporation for coming on today. it's easy to see who wins and inexpensive election cycle. the party with the bigger check as big money and super packs dominate the u. s. political campaigns. it starts to drown out the voices of ordinary americans. in a democracy, politicians are expected to represent each person equally, regardless of their financial status. the principle of one person, one vote means that no matter who we are regardless of education, housing, or financial status that they will be heard. however, money and politics complicates this idealistic system. when organizations donate

a large contribution to the campaigns, that politician is more inclined to be responsive to that organizations means. now this puts the voices of every day citizens at a disadvantage. the same is true in africa where money talks, but citizens are aware of this unfair disadvantage and they do not trust the voting system. increasingly, economic and political inequalities are interlaced, leaving many americans poor and voiceless. the u. s. now has of the lowest rates of upward mobility in any developed country in the world. so while the us as a self appointed champion of democracy, maybe it is time for it to learn from other countries on how to run a truly free and fair election. solutions would include tighter limits on contributions candidates can directly receive greater transparency of who pays for political ads and disclosing all donors and stopping the flow of dark money. i'm

christy, i. thanks for watching. and we'll see you right back here next time on the cost of everything with at this hour, american and coalition forces are in the early stages of military operations to disarm iraq, to free its people. and to defend the world from great danger. who's with food and medicine and suppliers and freedom with

oh, when i was so seemed wrong. when all 3 just don't hold me, you will have to see how disdain becomes the advocate an engagement. it was the trail. when so many find themselves worlds apart, we choose to look for common ground. i am rick sanchez and i am here to play with you. whatever you do, you do not watch my your show seriously. why watch something but so different. my little opinions that you won't get anywhere else, work of it please. if you have the state department, the c, i a weapons makers, multi $1000000000.00 corporations. true your facts for you. go ahead. i change and

whatever you do. don't watch my show stay mainstream because i'm probably going to make you uncomfortable. my show is called direct impact, but again, you probably don't want to watch it because it might just changing the way. thank a initial you want to get a new one or 2, but you also still done those a you

do what i see the senior bus is the little gear lation says due to a a like in terms of a republic, as the russian most report, 1825th killed on that front. the 1st day no was going on. i faith india prime is a warning to world power that the g a new delhi and the code for the global community to support developing nation process for.