Director of Elections Glasspole Brown - file photo
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Director of Elections Glasspole Brown
By Racquel Porter
The government will spend about $30 million for the September 30 by-election in North East St. Ann.
More than 40,000 residents are entitled to vote in the polls in four electoral divisions.
Director of Elections Glasspole Brown said the Electoral Office Jamaica began preparations following Wednesday morning's announcement of the by-election.
"The budget is approximately $30 million. We are set to do our preparation, certainly for nomination day and by extension day, election day," he told Radio Jamaica News on Wednesday afternoon.
The last by-election, which was held on March 2, 2020 in Clarendon South Eastern, was at a cost of $25 million.
Mr. Brown said there is no need to recruit election day workers for the North East St. Ann by-election.
"Normally we use our in-house staff to execute the election. And that's the intention at this point in time. So in terms of availability of personnel to man the different activities on election day, we feel OK, bearing in mind that we're going be using most of our internal staff members to carry out the exercise."
General election budget soon
In the meantime, the Electoral Office of Jamaica has said a budget for the general election, constitutionally due September next year, is to be submitted to the Ministry of Finance by Friday.
The Director of Elections, who declined to disclose the figure, said the Electoral Commission will approve the budget later this week.
In 2016, the cost to stage the one-day event was $1.1 billion, but nearly one million registered voters failed to exercise their right to vote.
For the September 3, 2020 parliamentary election, the cost increased by $1.3 billion, moving to $2.4 billion.
The sum for the next general election is expected to be significantly higher, with Mr. Brown conceding that the rate of pay for election day workers as well as other costs have risen.
The Director of Elections is urging voters to collect their identification card from the constituency offices across the island, which will ensure a smoother voting experience.
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