Raleigh, N.C. (CBS CHARLOTTE) – Shirtless male models and party buses are being offered to encourage female students at North Carolina State University to get out and vote during the Nov. 4 midterm elections.
NC State students looking to vote will have the option of taking “a party bus equipped with snacks, prizes and shirtless male models” provided by Cosmopolitan magazine, student newspaper, Technician Online, reports. Colleges around the country were eligible for Cosmo’s contest prize, but the battleground state school is the winner.
“This is a huge election,” Cameron Willeford, the student government associate director who applied on behalf of NC State, told the Technician. “We are a pretty big deal, even though we are a southern state—any party could win.”
The #CosmoVotes party bus contest is intended to provide a fun route for students to make it to the polls on Election Day. The party bus and male model amenities are offered to any student in need of a ride to their polling site.
North Carolina is a swing state between Republican and Democratic candidates in both local and presidential election cycles.
Although the shirtless male models on the bus “may tend to excite more females than males,” it creates a “fun, exciting voting atmosphere” for students, said Willeford, noting that any tactic to get more students out to vote is a positive move.
“I do it for the people,” said Willeford, adding that many college students tend to be more apathetic about voting and politics.
According to the Technician, NC State is the largest university in North Carolina and the student body is 56 percent male. Willeford explained that the Cosmo bus would be a great way to increase female participation in this year’s midterms.
The food, music and male models provided by the Cosmo party bus has already gathered support from some students who see it as a “clever” way to get people to the polls.
“Everyone needs to vote,” freshman Olivia Jansen told the Technician. “I think it is a clever, effective and hilarious way to get people to the polls.”
