Cat got your vote? NYC candidate brings pet to polling place

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City's Republican mayoral candidate, Curtis Sliwa, tried to bring a furry friend to his polling place on Tuesday — one of his many pet cats.

Sliwa, who lost the race to Democrat Eric Adams, showed up at his Manhattan voting site with the animal cradled in his arms. It is one of the more than a dozen rescue cats he lives with at his studio apartment. But he was told the cat had to stay outside.

Sliwa, who founded the Guardian Angels anti-crime patrol four decades ago, then got in a dispute with poll workers who also wanted him to remove a red jacket emblazoned with his name out of concerns it could violate laws against electioneering at polling places.

Eventually, Sliwa was allowed to cast his ballot, which then briefly jammed in the voting machine.

An elections worker fixed the jam, the ballot was counted and Sliwa was soon reunited with the cat.