If you’ve been watching election news in the UK, you’d be forgiven for thinking that dogs are going to the polls. Indeed, they were.
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Joey, a Shih Tzu, waits outside a polling station during voting at St. James’s Church, Goldenacre, in Edinburgh, Scotland, Thursday, July 4, 2024. (Jane Barlow/AP via PA)
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A dog waits for his owner outside a polling station at Colston Memorial Park in Croydon, England, Thursday, July 4, 2024, during voting in the 2024 general election. (AP via James Veach/PA)
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A voter waits with his dog after casting his vote at the Cherry Tree Public House in use at a polling station in Urbeth, County Durham, northern England, Thursday, July 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Scott Heppel)
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A voter leaves a polling station with his dog after voting in Kingston, London, Thursday, July 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
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A dog sits outside a polling station in Southfields, London, on Thursday, July 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
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Joey, a Shih Tzu, waits outside a polling station during voting at St. James’s Church, Goldenacre, in Edinburgh, Scotland, Thursday, July 4, 2024. (Jane Barlow/AP via PA)
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Joey, a Shih Tzu, waits outside a polling station during voting at St. James’s Church, Goldenacre, in Edinburgh, Scotland, Thursday, July 4, 2024. (Jane Barlow/AP via PA)
A dog waits for his owner outside a polling station at Colston Memorial Park in Croydon, England, Thursday, July 4, 2024, during voting in the 2024 general election. (AP via James Veach/PA)
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A dog waits for his owner outside a polling station at Colston Memorial Park in Croydon, England, Thursday, July 4, 2024, during voting in the 2024 general election. (AP via James Veach/PA)
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A voter waits with his dog after casting his vote at the Cherry Tree Public House in use at a polling station in Urbeth, County Durham, northern England, Thursday, July 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Scott Heppel)
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A voter waits with his dog after casting his vote at the Cherry Tree Public House in use at a polling station in Urbeth, County Durham, northern England, Thursday, July 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Scott Heppel)
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A voter leaves a polling station with his dog after voting in Kingston, London, Thursday, July 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
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A voter leaves a polling station with his dog after voting in Kingston, London, Thursday, July 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
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A dog sits outside a polling station in Southfields, London, on Thursday, July 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
A dog sits outside a polling station in Southfields, London, on Thursday, July 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Every news site had a gallery of dogs outside the polling booth. Good dogs wait patiently for their owners to do their civic duty while the news business fulfills its duty to protect the sanctity of elections.
The UK has restrictions on what can be reported on election days before polling closes to avoid influencing voters. While there is wall-to-wall coverage and analysis like in the US, there is no such reporting in Britain.
People go to the polls, they simply report with photos and footage of the leading candidates entering the polls. But there is no debate about their campaign platforms.
Thus, the puppy falls in love.
In Chiswick there was Alfie, a blond shaggy dog, Arnie in Liverpool a cockatoo wearing a rainbow-coloured bowtie and another in Norfolk, Toby. Those hounds were on Sky News.
At the BBC, Lucian, a Bernese mountain dog, lay outside Anthropus Village Hall in Cheshire, Pippin, a fox-red labrador in Edgware, London, and Maui, an Old English sheepdog in Wokingham.
Journalists went the extra mile to show that it wasn’t just the polls. They found at least two horses, a cat, a chicken, and a large snake named Neptune.
