As the presidential election edges closer, more and more pledges are being made. Bush pledges more help for high schools, Kerry pledges to lower health care costs and all the while, an increasing number of online political organizations emerge amidst the voting population of the United States to create all-new kinds of pledges.

With such a pivotal election approaching, patriotic enthusiasts across the country are frantically channeling their creative energies to put enjoyable spins on the voting process. One particularly creative group that stands out among these organizations is Votergasm.org: a nonpartisan, nonprofit Web site that encourages enjoyable voting, without ulterior motives.

Votergasm.org kills two birds with one stone by increasing the number of young voters while at the same time satisfying a great number of libidos. Created by recent Columbia, Harvard and University of Wisconsin-Madison graduates, the campaign launched on Sept. 4 and has already accumulated thousands of pledges.

“Voting is hot, and young voters are hot for each other,” said Michelle Collins, Votergasm.org director and spokeswoman. “Votergasm.org is a way to channel our generation’s patriotism into sex, and vice versa. Election Day should be an erotic national youth festival, an orgy of democracy and civic participation.”

The Web site focuses on encouraging young people across the nation to pledge to fornicate with voters on election night and to withhold sex from nonvoters until the next presidential election, with an overall goal of increasing democratic awareness.

There are three kinds of pledges offered on Votergasm.org. Pledging as a “citizen” means to withhold sex from nonvoters for the week following the election. As a “patriot,” a pledge agrees to have sex with a voter on election night and withhold sex from nonvoters for the week following the election. And for the more adventurous, the “American hero” pledges to have sex with a voter on election night and withhold sex from nonvoters for the next four years.

“Many people think of politics as dirty, but it doesn’t have to be that way,” Collins said. “Politics can be clean, invigorating and beautiful — like sex. When we looked at the statistics from the 2000 elections, we were shocked. Millions of young people didn’t vote — and an even larger number did not have sex that night. Never again.”

To remedy the situation, Votergasm.org hopes to reach out to “thousands of civic-minded, sex-starved young patriots hungry for an opportunity to register to vote, request an absentee ballot and get laid on Nov. 2.” The Web site’s goal is to send 100,000 18-25 year-old voting virgins to the polls for the 2004 elections and to help achieve at least 250,000 orgasms by the following morning. With support from such prominent figures as Rush Limbaugh, Votergasm.org increases in popularity by the minute.

“I think that Votergasm is a novel idea,” Revelle College sophomore Astrid Hansen said. “Many people in our society are incredibly apathetic when it comes to politics and taking an active role in voting. However, everyone is interested in sex. Mixing these two is an ingenious marketing maneuver because it increases awareness of politics in a fashion that will draw in a whole new crowd of voters due to the carnal intrigue of this Web site.”

The Web site itself features a variety of useful and informative features. Action pictorials consisting of scantily clad women and men carefully and erotically explain how to start an issue advocacy group, contact elected officials and vote absentee.

The Votergasm process breaks down into nine steps: register to vote and take the pledge, find the polling place on Nov. 2 and wear the Votergasm pledge card, vote, meet a fellow pledge-taker at an election-night Votergasm party, get to know each other, head home together, fulfill the pledge. In the meantime, election officials tally votes, the election ends and your duty to the country is fulfilled.

Revelle sophomore Brian Poladian found the Web site to be surprisingly entertaining.

“I usually find that conventional forms of communication about voting issues and processes are quite boring and seldom hold my interest, and as such, hinder my eagerness to exercise my rights as an American citizen and become involved in politics,” Poladian said. “Although Votergasm employs sexual overtones, it is one of the most creative and interesting ways I’ve found to increase awareness about politics and promote interest in the upcoming election.”

New topics appear faster than a user’s refresh rate on the Votergasm.org forum, where such topics as “Kerry and Star Trek,” “Lick Kerry, Not Bush,” “Kerry = Stalin” and “Bush = Hitler” are discussed by newbies and aficionados alike. There is even an “interactive stereotyping game,” which involves looking at pictures of voters and determining whether they are an “ass” or a “trunk” (Democrat or Republican, respectively). It is a political version of Hotornot.com, where discerning eyes check to see if their “partisan-dar” is up to par.

Votergasm.org provides access to the locations and themes of the Votergasm election-night parties going on in your area. Not only is information about the parties posted, this portion of the Web site gives voting participants the ability to publicize and host their own parties. Three prominent Southern California parties include the “Frat Boy Fuckfest” in Los Angeles, the “We’re Gonna Get ‘Screwed’ if We Vote Kerry” party in Beverly Hills and the “Don’t Fuck Nonvoters” potluck in San Diego.

“As a pledging voter, I plan to be as selective in the bedroom as I am on the ballot,” Earl Warren College junior Andrew Powell said. “Living in this decidedly Democratic-voting state of California, young people are tired of hearing about the old dogma of how much their one vote matters. To the individual, this Web site is not so much about making a political difference, but rather making our vote part of a recreational activity we all enjoy. And in the masses to which this appeals lies our persuasive power.”

The site accepts donations toward the cause and jokingly threatens, “If you think sex is expensive, try abstinence. And if you think democracy is expensive, try a dictatorship. A dictatorship that prohibits sex.” To the individuals involved with the program, “Votergasm.org is more than a Web site. It is more than an idea. It is a movement.”