Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness’s announcement on Sunday that when Jamaicans vote in the next general election on September 3 local government by-elections will also be held in four Kingston and St Andrew municipal divisions — Chancery Hall, Olympic Gardens, Seiveright Gardens, and Denham Town — has revived debate on the holding of dual elections.

Vacancies arose in the four divisions due to death and resignation; therefore, the State is obligated to have the electorate fill those positions.

Yesterday’s edition of this newspaper reported Director of Elections Mr Glasspole Brown as saying that the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) is fully prepared for the staging of the local government by-elections at the same time as the general election.

Mr Brown quite rightly reminded the country that the EOJ has experience handling multiple elections on the same day as, since 2003, electors in Portmore, St Catherine, have been directly electing their mayor at the same time as they cast separate ballots for councillors in the local government poll.

When this matter was raised a few years ago, then Director of Elections Mr Orrette Fisher had pointed out that, if the decision is to use separate ballots, the EOJ would need a second set of ballot boxes to facilitate two separate national elections being held on the same day.

Since Sunday’s announcement, Mr Brown has explained that the voters in the four municipal divisions will be provided with two ballots, one to elect a councillor and the other for the parliamentary candidate. Concomitantly, there will be separate ballot boxes come September 3.

During the earlier discussion, Mr Brown had said that, if both elections were being held the same day, the EOJ would require additional time between the nomination of candidates and the casting of ballots.

We recall that five years ago the Government tabled a motion in Parliament that could allow for voters to cast ballots in local and general elections at the same time.

The motion had indicated that at the next sitting of the House a proposed amendment to the Representation of the People Act (ROPA) would have been introduced.

The proposed amendment would be for a minimum of 18 days and a maximum of 30 after nomination day, if local government and general elections are being held on the same day.

That move has obviously stalled, but financially it makes sense, because the State has told us that having both elections on the same day would save the country at least $700 million.

An inescapable fact is that elections are expensive. We recall the electoral authorities telling the country that the 2016 General Election cost us approximately $1.2 billion. That figure, we expect, has climbed significantly since then.

Against that background, any initiative that can lead to a reduction in cost should be actively explored, especially given the demand on State finances from many sectors.

The practice of electors voting on multiple ballots on election day is a reality in other jurisdictions. We see no practical reason why the same should not apply here.