A number of EU citizens were turned away at polling stations while trying to vote in the European Parliament elections.
Frustrated voters took to Twitter with the hashtag '#DeniedMyVote' after turning up at polling booths to find their names 'scored out in red pen'.
Some said they were told they should be 'voting in their own country'.
Was turned away from voting this morning as I hadn’t filled out an EC1 form. I've never seen or heard of this form. I was born and have lived in the UK my *entire* life, the only reason I’m not a citizen is because my French mum isn’t married to my British dad #deniedmyvote
— louisa (@louisabrdn) 23 May 2019
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said the situation is 'outrageous', also taking to Twitter with the trending hashtag.
Just spoken to a constituent at a polling station who is from Poland, been here for years but wasn’t allowed to vote...even though he’s on register. It is outrageous. #DeniedmyVote https://t.co/9gyLlcUMnM
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) 23 May 2019
Read more: When will the results of the European elections be announced?
The Electoral Commission say they understand the frustration of those citizens involved.
They say the delay to Brexit has left little time to raise awareness of the legal process of EU citizens voting in the UK.
A spokeswoman for the Electoral Commission said: "We understand the frustration of some citizens of other EU Member States, resident in the UK, who have been finding they are unable to vote today when they wish to do so.
"All eligible EU citizens have the right to vote in the EU elections in their home Member State."
Read more: Party leaders head to the polls in European elections
To vote in an election, EU citizens have to go through a two-step process; they must first register to vote and then also fill out a UC1 form.
But many have said they had filled the form in but were still turned away, while others say they never received the form to begin with.
EU citizens living in the UK are allowed to vote either in their home country or the UK for the European election, the key thing being that they can only vote once.
If they are registered to vote, they will appear by default on the UK voters’ roll with a letter ‘G’ next to their name, indicating they are not allowed to vote here.
Only if they fill in the UC1 form - confirming that they intend to vote in the UK, and not in their home nation - will that designation be changed to a ‘K’, showing they are eligible to vote.
The problem at this year’s European election is the compressed timetable caused by delays to Brexit and the UK Government dithering over whether to take part in the election.
After the election was finally confirmed at the start of April, EU citizens had less than a month to file the relevant form by the deadline of May 7.
The Electoral Commission spokeswoman added: "This is a requirement of EU law, which specifies that this has to be done “sufficiently in advance of polling day”. UK law sets this as 12 working days in advance of the poll.
"The very short notice from the government of the UK’s participation in these elections impacted on the time available for awareness of this process amongst citizens, and for citizens to complete the process.
"EU citizens’ right to vote in the election in their home Member State remains unaffected by the change in the UK’s participation; in order to do so, they would need to be registered in that country in accordance with that country’s process and timetable."
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