On Jan. 8, all eyes will be on New Hampshire as residents cast their votes in the presidential primary. But, that’s not the only election in New Hampshire that day — Marty, Sarah and Wilson are on the ballot and sniffing for votes.
The cats are running in “The Mount Washington Mascot Primary,” where the winner will be named the Mount Washington Observatory’s mascot. The observatory’s former mascot, Nin, retired last month due to his declining health. Nin served as the mascot for more than a decade after he was found as a stray in Vermont. He now lives with two rangers from Mount Washington State Park. Click here to read CatChannel’s coverage of Nin’s retirement.
All three candidates need permanent homes, and the observatory will let the public decide which cat to bring aboard through an online poll, which will be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. EDT on Jan. 8. The three cats were selected by the Conway Area Humane Society.
“We wanted to give the public a chance to help pick our new mascot,” Scott Henely, executive director of the observatory, said. “So we decided to hold this first-in-the-nation feline primary.”
Marty is a long-haired, black cat whose platform is “free cheeseburgers and fish heads for everyone.” Ten-month-old Wilson pledges to “leave no mouse behind,” and short-haired Sarah stands on “I am woman, hear me meow.”
The voting page also includes this disclaimer:
"Please note: All three contenders have great hair, attend church, hold law degrees, value values, tout affordable vet care, and oppose recreational drug-use (unless it is catnip). All three claim to have been raised by poor, humble yam-farmers who worked their tails off just to put Meow Mix on the table. However, that claim has yet to be confirmed."
For detailed cat biographies and voting instructions, click here.
The Mount Washington Observatory is situated on a mountaintop and is a nonprofit, private organization that studies the Earth’s weather and climate systems.