Fears of election fraud hit the DOG mayoral race in New York
Major fears of election fraud have hit New York City, but probably not the political race you had in mind.
The Big Apple’s dog mayoral race – an honorary title awarded every two years – has been embroiled in scandal this year after a crypto community pushed voters to pick a winner.
About 16 dogs, hand-selected through their social media, competed for the honorary title to be decided on November 11.
The race was in the hands of Enzo the Shih Tzu and Bertram the Pomeranian from Wednesday until Enzo’s owner pulled him out claiming interference.
Olivia Caputo posted on Instagram on Wednesday night that the “giant bombshell of votes hit Twitter, saying a crypto group had infiltrated the Dog Mayor platform to pump their worthless sh**coin.”
“They are offering payments/giveaways to get people to vote for Bert, which is illegal under FTC guidelines,” Caputo continued.
The crypto group also posted “highly inflammatory comments” about Enzo on the NYC Dog Mayor platform, she wrote.
“We have NEVER received the type of negative comments and messages that we have received while participating in this competition,” she stated.
Olivia Caputo Pulled Her Shih Tzu, Enzo, Out of a Pay Hike, Claiming Voters Interfered with a Crypto Scheme
New York City began dog mayor elections shortly after Littleton, Colorado began its tradition in 2021.
The East Coast city introduced the 2024 candidates in July using a March Madness style and was chosen for certain talents ranging from hugging, singing, fashion and giving high fives.
The election will take place every Wednesday via Dog Mayor NYC’s Instagram stories, Facebook group and X account, until it comes down to the final two political pooches, who faced off this week and ended with Enzo dropping out.
Caputo speculated that the group was running a “pump and dump” scheme, which is a market manipulation tactic in which the token is artificially inflated to attract participants and then sold, causing the price to crash, according to Coinbase.
“If they really don’t invest in the actual project here at all, it’s all about their cryptocurrency and some of that really bothers me, I don’t want to be associated with it at all,” Caputo said. .
As well as claiming there was interference, she also discovered negative comments about Enzo on a public Telegraph forum on Sunday.
Caputo brought the issues to the attention of Dog Mayor founder Stephen Calabria, who said they could not disqualify Bertram due to the crypto group’s actions.
But she told me amNewYork that Calabria did nothing to protect her or Enzo from the hate comments.
When Enzo’s followers tried to draw attention to the issue, they were blocked by the Dog Mayor account, Caputo said.
Enzo faced Bertram the Pomeranian, who saw a spike in votes on Twitter
As Americans head to the polls to vote for the next US president, there has been a shocking twist in the election of the Honorary NYC Dog Mayor, with participants decrying crypto users
The language they use about Enzo and me is very, very disturbing to say the least. It seemed threatening, very negative, very hateful,” Caputo said.
“It’s ironic, honestly, because Stephen keeps repeating that this is supposed to be fun and light-hearted, but he let it be anything but that. He has not protected that in any way, shape or form,” she said.
After Enzo dropped out of the race, the Dog Mayor Instagram account announced that Simon the Basset-Cattle Dog would take his place in the final showdown against Bertram, stating that the account has no financial interest in the race.
“We are a neutral organization and do not support individual candidates over others, nor do we support any additional financial interests associated with the individual candidates,” the statement said.
“We literally have no financial interest in this at all, other than trying to bring joy to the world and get more puppies adopted.”
“We will not tolerate negativity directed at anyone, dog or human, and we will not support anyone who tries to buy or pay for votes.”
Bertram the Pomeranian’s Instagram page posted a statement on their story to say that they have nothing to do with the crypto group or dislike comments towards Enzo.