As the Roman empire began its decline, the brutal emperor Caligula appointed one of his favorite horses to serve as consul to the Senate. Fortunately, America has not stooped that low yet, but a man in Kansas gave it a game try by filing to have his dog run for governor.
According to the Kansas City Star, Kansas resident Terran Woolley of Hutchinson “entered his three-year-old wire terrier, Angus, in the race after news reports surfaced that the state does not have requirements governing who can run for the office.”
Indeed, the state of Kansas has no statutes dictating whether or not a dog could run for head of state. Regardless, Kansas officials told Terran Wooley that his dog would be disqualified if he persisted.
“A dog will not be allowed to file and put its name on the ballot,” said Bryan Caskey, director of elections for the Kansas secretary of state’s office.
Kansas has had run-ins with pranksters looking to exploit their lack of specified candidate qualifications. Just last year, “six teenagers also filed for the gubernatorial race following a report from the Star last year that noted no age or residency requirements for candidates,” according to The Hill.
Caskey told the Star he could not solve the legal quagmires of having a dog run for office when no law in place says he can’t.
“I’m not sure how to answer that,” Caskey said. “Because I cannot point to a law that sets any qualifications to run for governor. So a dog has never tried to file — I don’t know what would happen if one tried to. … I can’t point you to a law that says anything about the qualifications to run for governor.”
“Under Kansas law, there is no law governing the qualifications for governor, not one,” Caskey added. “So there’s seriously nothing on the books that lays out anything, no age, no residency, no experience. Nothing.”
After two bizarre incidences, Kansas has finally learned its lesson and is now considering a bill to have specific requirements for gubernatorial candidates. It will most likely contain important notes like “the candidate must be a member of the human race.”
But wait a minute!
What if somebody runs that identifies as a dog?
Kansas better be ready for anything.