Politicians often talk about wanting to attract the youth vote.

But Keighley boy Lucas Francis – pictured above with his mum, Lindsey – might not be quite what they had in mind!

The family of the Wheathead Lane four-year-old were gobsmacked when a polling card for last Thursday’s district council and European Parliament elections arrived for him in the post.

But they shrugged off their surprise and decided to use the mix-up as a way of giving Lucas an unusually early introduction to British democracy.

Lucas’s gran, 52-year-old Audrey Sands, said: “We got the polling card for Lucas a few weeks back and kept it in a drawer.

“We thought we’d take him along to vote at the elections as a joke. I took him down to the polling station at Exley Head Church with his mum, Lindsey, and his dad, Mik.

“We told the people in there Lucas had come to vote, and that he’d got a polling card. They laughed and joked about it, and asked Lucas if he was 18. He said ‘no, I’m four’! He just thought it was a bit of fun.

“They took the polling card off us to return it to whoever had sent it out.”

Mrs Sands, who lives with her grandson and his parents, said she had previously filled out a council tax form stating Lucas lived at her address. However, she claims she included his date of birth, and is puzzled as to how he was mistaken for an adult.

But Bradford Council contest this. A spokesman said: “On the form the family returned to us in October 2013, no date of birth was put down for Lucas. The form had not been completed properly.”

l See pages 23 to 25 for full election results and reaction