What do "free elections" cost now?

[Gene C]

from my thread titled "RE: It’s a Free Country. For How Much Longer?"

In Lincoln's time, the cost of national elections were minimal. Candidates made speeches (oftentimes, debate speeches) to public audiences. And, then national newspapers and magazines reported those speeches to the American citizens.

Now, one hundred sixty years later: $16 Billion Will Be Spent in the 2024 Election. (November 1, 2024 headline in U. S. News and World Report.)

That's a drop in the bucket compared to our national debt currently at $35 Trillion dollars +
National Debt Tracker: American taxpayers (you) are now on the hook for

$35,866,603,223,541.48 as of 11/4/24 according to Fox News
That's $35.8 Trillion dollars