In the current implementation of PublicVotes, it costs around $1 to record some 200 votes into the Blockchain. This is quite expensive compared to systems such as Civitas, but it is arguably, cheaper than the current system where governments often count vote ballots by hand. (at least that's how it's done around here in Italy).
Nonetheless, I do think though that Smart Contracts can play an important role in future voting systems, and obviously they can empower entire governments. I will work on a Liquid Democracy model next for which Smart Contracts make a lot of sense.