Candidates continue to fetch on all fours for votes as they gear up for November, but they will have to try their doggone hardest to win the support of one unlikely ballot caster.
His name is Buddy, and getting his vote is going to be especially ruff.Buddy might be undecided on which way he’ll be leaning this Election Day for now, but throw him a bone and you might get his vote. Buddy is a dog. A four-legged, floppy-eared, collar-wearing pooch that, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is now registered to vote. The pup’s owner says he had no problem signing up Buddy to cast a ballot. To KOB Eyewitness News, he says he approached a voter registration booth at the University of New Mexico campus a few weeks ago and wondered if it would be easy to add Buddy’s name to the roster of voters. To his surprise, it didn’t require that much hounding. Buddy is now a registered voter.“I made up a birth date, and I made up a Social Security number and I had a voter registration card in my hand for Buddy two weeks later," says the man. "They should verify.Somebody should have verified this information and somebody should have come out and took a look at exactly who it was,” he adds.Bernalillo County Clerk's Office tells the news network that they do look over applications that come in, but Buddy’s information must have slipped right under their cold, wet nose. They warn other pooches with potential to go to the polls, however, that Buddy (well, his owner, who is not offering his name) has committed voter fraud. Now one pet owner might end up returning Buddy’s Counter-officiated registration card with his tail between his legs, but frankly, it sounds like the Clerk’s Office’s bark is much worse than their bite. The owner says he does not intend on voting on behalf of Buddy, but warns, "We're going to have a lot of people that are registered to vote that shouldn't be able to vote.”Officials from Bernalillo County add that state law does not require proof of a valid Social Security number, date of birth or even your name. Opposable thumbs, the fundamental anatomy to necessitate bipedal locomotion and fewer than four legs are usually favored, though.