Nuns at polling stations are even purer than #dogsatpollingstations

Long before the #dogsatpollingstations tradition (and Twitter) was born, another election day quirk had already paved its way into the nation’s heart.

Press Association photographers over the decades have snapped dutiful sisters emerging from polling stations after casting their vote.

So on a day when dogs are getting all the love, here’s a selection of #nunsatpollingstations dating back to the 1960s.

1964 – Nuns from the Ursuline Convent leave a Wimbledon polling station

1970 – Two nuns from the Convent of the Sainte Union emerge from a polling station at Parliament Hill School in north London

1999 – Nuns from the enclosed Order of the Carmelite Monastry leave a polling station in Delgany, County Wicklow, after voting in the Irish local election. The only other time they were allowed to leave the Monastery was for a dentist appointment.

2001 – Sisters from the Tyburn Convent exit a church polling station near Marble Arch in central London.

2003 – A Nun walks out of a polling station in west Belfast, Northern Ireland, during elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

2004 – Nuns from the enclosed order of Hampton Convent cast their vote for the European Elections, at a Dublin polling station.

2009 – Sisters cast their vote at the polling station in Drumcondra Boys National School in Dublin, Ireland.

2010 – Two nuns from the Tyburn Convent leave a polling station near Hyde Park, London.

2015 – Nuns arrive to vote at a polling station at St John’s Church in Paddington, London.

2017 – Nuns from Tyburn Convent arrive at a polling station at St John’s Parish Hall, London.