Gus the cat and Franklin the dog are in a heated race to become Travis County’s next pet mayor.
The furry candidates are running in a mock election hosted by the Austin-area League of Women Voters and the Travis County Clerk’s Office. Their goal is to help voters become comfortable with the voting process ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.
“The purpose of holding Paws to the Polls is to demystify the voting process itself, which is intimidating to a lot of people if they’ve never done it before,” said Debbi Voss, vice president of organization for the League of Women Voters Austin. “This is your chance to take that machine for a test drive ahead of the November elections, where we want your voice to be heard.
Voting kicked off in June and residents have four more chances to cast their ballots, including this Saturday at the George Morales Dove Springs Recreation Center.
During another polling event last month, Austin residents voted for their preferred candidate and participated in a Q&A session with the candidates’ human stand-ins.
The pets’ campaign will run until September, when the results will be announced. Additional voting events are happening on Aug. 13, Sept. 12 and Sept. 22.
Lorianne Willett
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KUT News
A poster for the pet mayoral race sits on a table at the voting event. The election goes through September.
Voss said, just like in real elections, the candidates can be starkly different — and urged participating voters to make informed decisions by reading voter guides and getting to know each candidate.
“[Gus] tends to be more of a conservative candidate. He’s a law-and-order kind of guy, follows the rules. He likes things clean and orderly, as opposed to Franklin,” Voss said. “Franklin is more of a kind of a no rules kind of dog, roam free, definitely ‘don’t have me on a leash’ [and is] not sure about those vaccines.”
Anyone 8 or older can cast their ballots using a real Travis County voting machine.
“Giving kids the opportunity to participate in this mock election—from introductions, to debates, to casting ballots—is a great way to teach them what it means to perform their civic duties,” Travis County Clerk Dyana Limon-Mercado said in a press release.
Lorianne Willett
/
KUT News
Ankur Patankar gives a speech on behalf of Franklin the dog inside the Baker School. Patankar served as Franklin’s representative, as the animals were not able to be present.
Although the actual pets couldn’t be in attendance for fear that they would get into a fight with each other or become startled by all the people, their human stand-ins — Amanda Waxman (Gus the cat) and Ankur Patankar (Franklin the dog) — each gave a stump speech about why their furry friend would be the best pet mayor of Travis County.
Franklin, the 4-year-old black poodle, said he supports building pet-friendly housing and bigger parks.
“Lately, [it] just feels like there’s so many new rules, new restrictions, new places we’re not allowed to sniff anymore, and I don’t agree with that,” Franklin said via his human Patankar. “I believe we should treat all pets the way they want to be treated, with treats, with a roof over their heads [and] with a little help when they’re struggling.”
Gus, the 4-year-old gray cat, said in his first 100 days, he would establish an inter-community cleanup crew and get all strays off the streets.
“I’m running for pet mayor because somebody has to be the adult in the room,” Gus said via his human Waxman. “I care about clean parks, I care about safe neighborhoods [and] I care about being able to enjoy a sunny afternoon without stepping in something ‘mysterious.’”
Both candidates even addressed personal controversies that had come up on the campaign trail. Franklin responded to accusations that he was running a “boys club.” Franklin said he “loves all humans,” regardless of their gender. Meanwhile, Gus pushed back on accusations that he was in the pocket of Big Amazon after photos surfaced of him sitting in an Amazon box. He clarified that he likes to sit in all boxes and has no affiliation with the company.
Kristina Jingling said even though she has a poodle that looks similar to Franklin, she ultimately voted for Gus because he is a rescue cat and liked that “he came from the streets and started from the ground up.”
“[The event] is a great way to advertise the midterms, get people to practice voting, get them comfortable with asking questions, using the polls, and I think it’s just a really cute and funny way to promote that,” Jingling said.