The company was commissioned by architects Harris McMillan to produce 700 corrugated cardboard polling booths for a trial by Cornwall Council for the current round of local and MEP elections.

Though common in the USA and Australia, cardboard polling booths had not yet been used in the UK, despite the fact they are cheaper, easier to store and transport, and can be recycled after use.

Cornwall Council said the cost of producing the 700 booths was around £15 per booth versus £85 for a conventional timber polling booth.

Caps Cases came up with a contemporary design, with each 1.3m-high booth able to accommodate four people; the booths were supplied flat in two pieces, including the main body and an additional plate that slotted on to the top to create a privacy shelf.

The four shelves for the voters to complete their ballot papers on were glued to the wall on one side, from which they folded down and fitted into a slot in the opposite wall. Each booth contained two shelves at standing height and two at a lower height for wheelchair access.

The booths were flexo post-printed using a TCY three-colour vacuum transfer printer and die-cut using a Marumatsu flatbed die-cutter.

Caps Cases sales director Shaun Stamford said: "This was a great opportunity for Caps Cases to showcase our ability to manage a project from concept, through design and manufacture to fulfilment.

"We had a couple of meetings with Harris McMillan and Cornwall Council where we proposed a few different ideas. The corrugated polling booths in America are a very standard design and we tried to offer something a bit more contemporary and also, being able to accomodate four people, it's a bit more efficient."

He added: "Following the election trials there may be scope for cardboard booths to fill a niche in the market."