Ballot box to serve one voter in Perthshire hamlet

The hamlet of Amulree consists of a church and a community hall

When the polls open next year for the UK general election a ballot box in Perthshire will serve just one voter.

The hamlet of Amulree could be home to the UK's smallest polling district.

When the issue came to light at a Perth and Kinross Council meeting last week, one councillor asked: "Could we not just chap on their door and hand over their voting form?"

But a council official told him it was legally necessary.

The ballot box will be placed in Amulree Hall, which will also serve as the polling station for a neighbouring district with 102 people on its electoral roll.

Both areas are in the UK parliamentary constituency of Perth and North Perthshire but they are in different council wards.

The Electoral Commission Scotland said it could not confirm whether there were other one-person polling districts.

"Councils are responsible for setting polling districts rather than the commission so we don't have information on sizes," an ECS spokesperson said.

"However, I have been aware of some rural ones in the past with very small numbers (single digit) of electors so I can't say whether the situation in Perth and Kinross is unique."

A UK general election is expected next year but a date has not yet been announced.

Report by Kathryn Anderson at the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Story supplied by the Local Democracy Reporting Service.