If the math can be trusted, the new election for the District 9 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives will cost this state’s taxpayers about $1.2 million, a figure that could rise to $1.7 million if a runoff is required to determine the Republican candidate.

Given that there are 10 Republican candidates and one would have to receive at least 30 percent of the vote to be declared the primary winner, our bet is that a runoff will be required.

Now $1.7 million is not a lot of money when you consider the state budget is around $23 billion, but it becomes more concerning when you understand what that money could achieve if otherwise directed. A lot of good.

It is a shame that there is no mechanism by which the culprits in the election fraud that forced this new election could be handed the bill. But there isn’t.

We were both pleased and surprised last week when the Robeson County Board of Elections settled on a modest early voting plan for the primary, coming to the decision that only two sites would be used, at its office on Walnut Street in Lumberton and one in Pembroke. The board, which includes three Democrats and two Republicans, came to a unanimous decision, which was required to keep it from being punted to the state Board of Elections.

Steve Stone, a Republican member, said the board wanted to limit cost for taxpayers and hours for poll workers.

But the reality is the Democratic members of the board played along because they don’t care as their candidate, Dan McCready, is unopposed in the election. Local turnout, not only by Democrats but Republicans as well, is likely to be incredibly depressed on May 14, disappointing considering the high stakes — this county will help with the election of a congressman.

But you can be sure that during the general election, the local board will opt for a much more generous plan when it comes to early voting. The Democrats who control the local board understand that early voting is exploited locally by haulers who slave for their party, and they want that door open as wide as law allows.

For most folks, elections are about electing leaders; for others, it’s a payday.

Which brings us to the real cost of the District 9 debacle, and that is the further eroding of the public’s confidence that legitimate votes are not erased by illegitimate votes. North Carolina continues to struggle to get traction in the incorporation of a voter ID law, a concept that is so outside the lines that only about three dozen other states have one in place. If your sarcasm meter if not fully charged, we will tell you that comment was in jest

More to the point, however, we have seen nothing so far that would serve as protection against another recurrence of the hijacking of absentee ballots that occurred mostly in Bladen County but was apparently spotty in Robeson as well. Most folks don’t even understand clearly how the fraud was committed, and legislators have done nothing to prevent it from happening again.

We do expect that the state Board of Elections will have an army of poll watchers in Bladen and Robeson counties during the District 9 election, and that will probably give pause to some who typically have no hesitancy about trying to pilfer an election.

So that’s good.

But what about the next election? And the one after that? And …..?