DIRECTOR of Elections Danville Walker says the longer it takes for the election date to be announced, the more expensive it will be for the Electoral Office to continue to train the more than 18,000 workers required for the upcoming general elections.

“The longer the election takes, the more expensive it becomes because you have to keep training people but we have been fully supported by the Ministry of Finance,” Walker said shortly after he was sworn in to act as Director of Elections for the third time at a special ceremony at King’s House yesterday.

Yesterday Walker said some 50,000 additional names had been added to the new voters’ list which will be out by May 31.

He, however, admitted that funding was not been a problem as the EOJ’s budget for $816 million was approved.

“We have increased the size of the electronic vote identification system roll-out by 20-25 per cent and so we also got some funds additionally to the budget,” he told the Observer.

The Electronic Voter Identification and Ballot Identification System (EVIBIS) is expected to be available at some 800 polling stations in the upcoming general elections.

Walker noted that while the Electoral Office is fairly ready to accommodate the staging of the elections, they will not experience a one hundred per cent readiness until the date is announced.

“The calling of the election is almost necessary for you to be ready 100 per cent,” he said, adding that some of the 18,000 workers will not take the training seriously until the date is announced.

He, however, gave the assurance that they will not be caught off guard as they will have approximately 30 days between when the date is announced and when the elections will be held.

He told the Observer that the Electoral Office is currently doing simulation exercise for the EVIBIS and expressed all confidence in its ability to work. The system was used before in a local government election as well as a by-election for West Kingston.