Officials have admitted a mistake which saw Scotland spelled "Scotalnd" on thousands of poll cards is "disappointing and embarrassing."

Aberdeen city council sent around 175,000 polling cards to residents of the north east of Scotland ahead of the Holyrood elections on May 5.

The error was noticed after the cards were printed. The local authority decided against reprinting them as the mistake does not alter the meaning of the sentence.

A spokeswoman for the returning officer said: "This is a very disappointing, and of course, a very embarrassing proofing error.

"The 175,000 poll cards distributed will not be replaced as this unfortunate spelling mistake in no way invalidates the poll cards."