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Dogs at polling stations

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Hashtag and internet meme

Pip at a polling station for the EU referendum in 2016

Dogs at polling stations or #dogsatpollingstations is a popular hashtag and Internet meme on social media during an election in the UK and other countries such as Australia. Typically, the dogs are photographed waiting for their owners outside the polling station and the pictures then posted on services such as Instagram or Twitter.

Under UK law, broadcasters are forbidden to report on election issues or campaign details while polls are open. News coverage is restricted to simple, factual information, traditionally including photographs of viewers' dogs outside of polling stations. Other pets that have been reported include parrots, tortoises, and snakes.

The hashtag became popular in the UK general elections of 2015 and 2017.

The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held in December and thus many of the photographs had a seasonal theme such as showing the dog wearing a Santa hat. Politicians who participated included Boris Johnson, with his dog Dilyn, and Sadiq Khan with his Labrador, Luna. Ed Davey posted a picture of his family's guinea pig, Carrot, as they do not have a dog. Other animals, such as horses, also made appearances.

Semiotic analysis of the photographs may indicate the political alignment or voting preference of the dogs' owners.

References

  1. ^ Caple, Helen (2019), "Lucy says today she is a Labordoodle": how the dogs-of-Instagram reveal voter preferences", Social Semiotics, 29 (4): 427–447, doi:10.1080/10350330.2018.1443582, S2CID 149303152
  2. Dogs at polling stations: Pooches at the polls, BBC, 12 December 2019
  3. Fidler, Matt (12 December 2019), "Taking the lead: dogs at polling stations – in pictures", Guardian
  4. McArthur, Tom; Clarke-Billings, Lucy (4 July 2024). "Polling station pets include dogs, horse and snake". BBC News. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  5. Allen, Tony (23 August 2017), "10 years of hashtags that changed Twitter", The Independent
  6. Ruck, Joanna (8 June 2017). "Dogs at polling stations – in pictures". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  7. Hogan, Michael (12 December 2019), "Forget Boris Johnson v Jeremy Corbyn… the real political rivalry is between Dilyn the dog and El Gato the cat", The Telegraph
  8. Betts, Marc (12 December 2019), "Social media, dogs and even a guinea pig: The trend of pets at polling stations", The New European
  9. Brown, Faye (12 December 2019), "Dogs at polling stations upstaged by 'horses with causes'", The Metro
  10. Hassan, Jennifer. "Dogs at polling stations are always big in Britain. This election also brought horses and reindeer". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
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