WINOOSKI – Incoming Winooski mayor Kristine Lott, the first woman to hold the position, was elected 650-478 on Tuesday, largely in part to the opinions of local pets. Several voters confirmed that they used their dogs to judge the candidates before casting their own votes.
“Beau here is a much better judge of character than I am,” said Winooski resident Hugh Maine. “Kristine stopped by the house campaigning and Beau started barking and yipping, as he does, but as soon as I opened the door he just took a real shine to her, and she loved him too. I decided right then, if Beau thinks she’s okay, we’ll she’s got my vote.”
A similar story was repeated several times as voters exited their polling places on Tuesday, with residents telling tales of wagging tails whenever Lott came door to door. Some even brought their beloved pets to meet-and-greets to see Lott, as their dogs were so taken with her.
“Rex was so sad when she left to go knock on the next door, and I told him not to worry, we’d see her again sometime,” said Elena Legge, “so I took Rex to see Kristine at one of her events. He was so excited. To be fair though, I did show Rex Mr. Covey’s Front Porch Forum posts, but Rex just wasn’t interested. That made it an easy decision.”
The election results may influence how campaigns are run in the future, as it now seems evident that dogs are less impressed with internet posts and mailings, and more likely to give the sniff of approval to people that they can actually smell.
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