A woman living in Leeds was forced to spend four hours fighting her case to vote in the European elections - despite being registered to do so.
Klaudia Parzonka filled out the online registration at the end of April, and decided to give Leeds City Council a call yesterday, to confirm which polling station she should attend, as other people were being turned away.
The 27-year-old from Poland, who has lived in the UK for five years, was then told she hadn't filled out a UCI form - something the council had sent to her at the start of April - and that she couldn't vote in this election.
She said: "I was very frustrated and it made me so angry that I had done everything asked of me in the online application, yet was being denied the right to vote.
"How can I do something I didn't know?
"The last information I received when registering was that everything was sorted."
'I know at least five people who have had this problem'
The phone call with a council official lasted four hours, in which it transpired the UCI form had in fact been sent to an old address Klaudia hadn't lived in since December.
In response to confusion with a number of cases in Leeds, the council issued a statement late yesterday afternoon.
It reads: "We are aware of isolated cases where electors have been turned away from polling stations.
"To reassure voters, we have contacted all Presiding Officers to remind them of our guidance for determining voter eligibility.
"Every polling station has a list of EU citizens registered to vote in their area. Polling staff have been advised to contact the Elections team before turning any potential voters away, who will try to resolve any cases reported."
Eventually, when a senior administrator took over the case for Klaudia, who lives in Halton Moor, she was told that she was in fact registered to vote.
She arrived at her local polling station to find that her name was on the list - but crossed out. Despite this she was able to submit her vote.
"I know at least five people who have had this problem," she said. "I persisted and that is why I was able to vote. Others will have missed out and that is not right."
Visit our homepage for more of the biggest talking points across Leeds.
LeedsLive has launched a WhatsApp group to keep you up to date with the latest news! Click here to join and follow the instructions on your phone. Your number won't be shared with anyone else in the group.
