Hollywood actors and social media celebrities are going naked to raise the awareness around the 'naked ballots'. It is a term used to describe ballots received without a required secrecy envelope. As many as 16 states in the US legally require voters to insert their mail-in ballots into two separate envelopes in order to be counted.
Recently, Pennsylvania became the first state to disqualify ballots received without a required secrecy envelop, even as it gave voters no way out to fix their mistake. The US goes to Presidential election on November 3rd.
'RepresentUS' Claims the Issue Affects Everyone
Celebrities stripping down is part of the Public Service announcement to urge the voters to exercise caution while mailing their ballots. In the initiative undertaken by anti-corruption campaign RepresentUs, a series of celebs including comedian Sarah Silverman, actor Mark Ruffalo and model Naomi Campbell spoke about naked ballots, while being partially naked themselves.
"I know what you're thinking — you're thinking, Ruffalo, put your clothes on," said a Ruffalo. "Did you know that ballots could be naked?" actress Ryan Bathe asked. "And if you don't do exactly what I tell you, your ballot could get thrown out," Silverman added, talking about mail-in ballots. "Naked ballots — you don't want one of those!" added comedian Chelsea Handler.
Later, in a statement issued, RepresentUS co-founder and CEO Josh Silver said that the issue affects all those who are planning to vote by mail. "This is not a partisan issue; it affects all people planning to vote by mail. We're grateful to this committed and talented group for making an eye-catching video so that everyone understands what they need to do to ensure their vote is counted," he was quoted by Los Angeles Times.
Video Goes Viral on Social Media
In the video Chris Rock, Haddish, Josh Gad, and Naomi Campbell also highlighted how Pennsylvania has disqualified the naked ballots received so far. "I know that's, like, literally the least sexy thing a completely naked person could say," Gad said as comedian-actress Amy Schumer added, "Take your clothes off, and vote."
Taking hand off her naked breasts, Silverman adds towards the end, "America needs you." The video has already been viewed over 11 million times. It also features a full clothed British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen playing the fictional character of Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev.
The video has received a massive response from the microblogging site users. "So, wait, I'm supposed to fill out my ballot naked? Is that what the celebrities are wanting? Can they sing me another song too?" quipped a user.
