Sheffield toddler is youngest voter in UK – after receiving polling card!

The two-year-old’s parents were stunned when he received a polling card for today’s general election through the door of their home in Intake, Sheffield.

Dad Andy Wroe, 36, said: “Ollie just loves Postman Pat so he always collects the letters and he came running in with the letter to show me.

“It was nice that he got a letter in his name but it was a bit strange that it was a polling card – maybe they are starting him off early.

“If Postman Pat was standing then he would certainly vote. He’d be pretty torn between that or Thomas the Tank Engine I think.”

The family say they could not recall adding Ollie’s details to registration forms and are baffled why he received the card to vote in the Sheffield Heeley constituency, where seven candidates are standing after former MP Meg Munn stood down.

Ollie’s five-month-old sister Isla Wroe did not receive a polling card.

Andy is planning to vote today although his 29-year-old wife Lisa, a mental health support worker, will not and Ollie will also not be making use of his polling card.

“We registered Ollie’s birth at the town hall when he was born but I can’t remember doing anything since,” said Andy, manager of Poundland on The Moor in Sheffield city centre.

“We’ve been living in this property for a few years now and the polling cards just come to us automatically.

“It is quite amusing, they’ve got his date of birth anyway so you’d think they would take that into account.

“It makes you think how many other polling cards are out there that people can’t use.”

Sheffield Council said Ollie’s name had been added to a registration form in October 2013, under the old system where one person would register an entire household, rather than individuals registering themselves.

Parliament has required that residents on the old system were rolled forward.

A spokesman added: “The responsibility for ensuring that the correct voters are registered to vote lies with those householders.

“We do know that in this case there have been several letters sent out to this address reminding the family concerned to ensure their details are up to date.

“Having said this, the system will be changing nationally from next year to mean that all voters will have to be registered with their national insurance number to prevent exactly this kind of situation.

“We do want everyone to use their vote in the democratic process, but not until they are old enough to do so.”