Wedding ring found in Mullingar ballot box

Shane King

A precious missing item was found in the count centre yesterday.

Counting staff discovered a wedding ring among the voting papers when they opened a ballot box yesterday morning when counting began in TUS Athlone.

The owner of the ring had notified the returning officer that the ring had dropped into the ballot box when they cast their vote on Friday.

The special piece of jewellery was found in the ballot box from Gaelscoil an Choilín.

Because of strict election rules, the wedding ring had to remain in the box until it was officially opened by counting staff on Saturday morning.

The ring was promptly retrieved by counter Peter Creamer who was on the lookout for the missing ring after there was a note left to keep an eye out for it.