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Presidential federal election costs are spread amongst federal, state,
county and local authorities. The most credible estimate of their total comes
from a Voting
Technology Project by Caltech and MIT dated July 2001. They estimate that
the total cost of a federal election, excluding special one-time costs, is about
$1 billion, or about $10 per voter. For this reason, it is not cost effective to
have annual votes on Initiatives, but to make them coincide with the federal
elections.
National newspapers' list prices range from
about $4 to $8 per character. The Assembly will negotiate a bulk price for
newspaper publication, which will probably average in the mid-range at about $6
per character. A Proposed Initiative of 300 words would cost about $10,000. However, this price
is affordable to organizations, many individual citizens, and a group of
citizens that could easily be assembled for a worthwhile Initiative. It is also
sufficient to discourage frivolous Initiatives and to encourage brevity in
worthwhile Initiatives. It appears to be the most cost effective method of
publication. The Assembly has the authority to add a smaller
(probably not national) newspaper with lower costs if this
becomes desirable later; initially the Assembly should protect itself from a
possible deluge of proposed Initiatives.
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