Long Grove Dog Mayor Election – 2021

Vote For Your Favorite Dog

Declare Your Dog as a Candidate

Long Grove to Elect Top Dog

Ever wonder what your dog is dreaming when tussling about during naps? The Long Grove Historical Society figured it out – it’s the fame and fortune that will ensue from being elected as Long Grove’s Dog Mayor. As Dog Mayor, your dog will have the honor to preside over events and perform important duties throughout their one year term of office. We’re imagining things like opening a festival, chewing through a ribbon to christen a new business, chasing after a too tall truck approaching the covered bridge, promoting strawberry fest by downing a strawberry shaped dog treat on live tv, etc. We promise it will be fun, filled with humor, not very time consuming, and of course safe for you and your dog. And you’ll be raising funds for the Long Grove Historical Society, so it’s a win-win. Thanks to our kindred spirits at the Rabbit Hash, Kentucky Historical Society for the quirky inspiration – they’ve been holding an annual Dog Mayor Election Fundraiser since 2016.

Here’s how your dog can toss a hat collar in the ring:

Read the FAQ below to confirm your dog is up for it, then use the form at the bottom of this page, below the FAQ.  to give us your dog’s campaign name (could be their real name, or something even cuter – your call), and that will link you to a secure payment site to pay the $20 entry fee. We’ll then email you back in a day or so to get your dog’s official campaign photo and get you set you up on the ballot. The filing deadline to get on the ballot is July 25^th. No last minute candidates.

Here’s how you can vote:

To cast your vote for dog mayor, review the candidates on this page, and click on the dog of your choice. You’ll find a form where you can “buy” as many votes as you like ($1 per vote), crediting to the team/candidate of your choice.

Long Grove Dog Mayor FAQ

This is so cool. Who is doing this?  The Long Grove Dog Mayor election is being organized by and for the benefit of the Long Grove Historical Society, a 501C3 charity.

Doesn’t Long Grove already have a Mayor?  Actually, no. The chief elected human in Long Grove holds the title of Village President. It’s like our founding fathers said… no… let’s not call it Mayor, save that for a time in the future when dogs have evolved enough to hold the title of mayor.

What are the duties of Long Grove’s Dog Mayor?  Be the spokesdog for the town. Attend a few events. Meet and greet people. Issue proclamations. Protect the bridge. Maybe open a festival? Maybe chew through a ribbon to open a new business? Maybe have a beer named after you? ( note for Buffalo Creek Brewing… hint… hint… ) We’ll work with the dog’s owner to create some fun moments throughout the year.

Who is eligible?  Any social, people loving, not prone to biting dog whose owner lives or works in Long Grove may throw their collar into the ring. The swearing in ceremony will be August 7th at Vintage Days, so you may want to check with your dog and make sure he/she will be in town that day.

How do I officially declare my dog as a candidate?  Use the form below the FAQ to give us your dog’s campaign name (could be there real name, or something even cuter – your call), and that will link you to a secure payment site to pay the $20 entry fee. We’ll then email you back in a day or so to get your dog’s official campaign photo and get you set you up on the ballot. The filing deadline to get on the ballot is July 25^th, after that, you can still file, but the entry fee goes up to $30.

I have two dogs, can each of them be a candidate?  Sure, but we’ve heard of humans doing this, where a husband and a wife will run against each other for an office. It usually doesn’t end well.

How and when do I vote?  To cast your vote for dog mayor, review the candidates on this page, and click on the dog of your choice. You’ll find a form where you can “buy” as many votes as you like ($1 per vote), crediting to the team/candidate of your choice.

Can I vote at the last minute, just enough to make my dog the winner?  While we don’t anticipate any issue around the final results, we thought it might be prudent to be clear about how we would handle any last minute issues. The voting ends Thursday night, August 5th at the stroke of midnight, as it becomes Friday, Long Grove time. That will give us Friday to sort everything out for Saturday’s indoguration. This is a charity fundraiser – make sure you stay with the spirit of the event, and only donate what you’re comfortable giving to support the Long Grove Historical Society. The official vote total will be kept by the fundraising site we are using – GiveButter.com, though even those results will be considered preliminary until certified by the Historical Society’s Dog Mayor Election Board Friday morning. Only donations made with a completed timestamp before midnight, Long Grove time will be valid. In the waning hours of the event, only unmanipulated donations through that site or that site’s mechanisms we provide at LongGroveHistory.org will be considered valid and proper. An example of a manipulated vote would be some clever way of voting after midnight, but in a way that records the time as before midnight. We don’t know how that could be done, but won’t allow it.  There is no guarantee donations will be able to be placed up to the last second – there will be no extension of the donation deadline due to unavailability of the systems involved. (e.g. can’t place a vote because the GiveButter.com site is unavailable, power went out in Long Grove, my dog ate my homework, etc.). In the event of anything questionable, the Historical Society’s Dog Mayor Election Board (e.g. the fundraising committee) will rule and their decision will be final.

How often can I vote? You should vote often and in large amounts. Check back occasionally to see where the vote totals are – if a neighbors evil dog is out in front, perhaps you should vote again.

Any tips on how to get my dog elected? Yes, click on this link for a page of ideas. Unless you have big pockets and plan on just buying your victory (hey, it works with humans), you’ll probably want to work on a social media presence with some witty campaign promises and eye catching photos. We’ll give you direct links that allow people to vote for your dog – try to use those on your social posts so your audience can express their likes by immediate making a donation/casting a vote. You might consider a cute alias name to get attention, just for the election – in other towns, dog mayor candidates have used names like Charles Barkley, Jack Rabbit, Wilber-Beast, etc. Also, remember that the covered bridge is an absolute social media darling, so consider a cute creative photo of your candidate pooch that also includes the bridge.

Where is the bridge located? It’s on Robert Barker Coffin Road.

I have a Labrador that can do magic tricks, do you have a suggestion for a cute election alias name for her? Labracadabra.

What behavioral traits make for an excellent Dog Mayor? Not biting constituents would be a good start. We imagine an event or two where the dog would be interacting with lots of people. If that sounds like something your dog would love, then they’d be perfect for the job.

Can I nominate my cat? No, cats are way too independent for this role. If we allow cats, then what next? Goats? Ducks? Gerbils? Someone’s pet snake? Actually, now that we think about it, that could be pretty fun… okay, only dogs this year, but maybe next year we should open it up.

When is the in”dog”uration? Saturday, August 7th at Vintage Days.

How will the funds raised by used? The Long Grove Historical Society is a registered 501C3 charity dedicated to the preservation of Long Grove Area History. The funds raised will be used to help maintain our historic properties, and fund activities and events, such as our annual Vintage Days Penny Carnival and Halloween Ghost Walk. We are all volunteer, have no paid employees and receive no government funding. Interested in getting more involved with us? Find more info at this link.

How long is the term? One year. We envision this as an annual election.

How did you come up with this idea?  Somewhere in the depths of COVID isolation, we read about the Rabbit Hash, KY Historical Society doing this, and it seemed to fit perfectly with quirky little Long Grove.

You sound like a fun bunch. Can I join your group? Of course, we’re all just resident volunteers – become one of us using  our membership page.

Declare Your Pooch a Candidate

 

1. Give us your dog’s candidate name (could be what you actually call your dog, or a fun pseudonym) below. Also give us an email for the human campaign manager we should set up with powers to edit your dogs candidate page. When you press the “pay your fee” button, you’ll be taken to Paypal to complete the transaction. Paypal will notify us that you’ve paid and then we’ll set your dog up on the voting website. You’ll probably want to send us a photo of your dog to use on the voting website – you can email that to aaron@LongGroveHistory.org We’ll credit your filing fee as your first official votes. We’ll send you an email when your dog is up on the voting site – it may take a day or two to get everything set up.