Voters receive wrong instructions at polling station after poster error

An error at a Glasgow polling station resulted in voters being given the wrong instructions as they arrived to cast their ballots.

Posters at Notre Dame Elementary School asked voters to rank the candidates in order of preference.

This is how ballots are cast in local elections in Scotland, using the single transferable vote system. General elections in the United Kingdom use the first-past-the-post system, which requires voters to put an “X” next to the candidate they are voting for.

Glasgow City Council said the mistake was spotted quickly and the posters were replaced “very shortly” after the polling station opened at 7am.

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The council also said votes will continue to count and will use voters’ first preference, meaning no one will be disenfranchised.

However, one voter told the Herald the error was not noticed until at least 11am, three hours after the polls opened.

It is the latest problem to hit the electoral system after delays in postal voting prevented many Scots from casting their ballot.

A council spokeswoman said: “The error was spotted very shortly after the polling station opened and after the first voters had cast their ballots.

“It has been replaced with the correct information.

“No one has been deprived of their right to vote since the first preference will be removed from the ballot paper.”