Cosmo magazine is sending a swag bus to college campuses in North Carolina to drum up the vote.  Cosmo’s stated agenda is, not surprisingly “abortion and contraception.”  As part of the GOTV effort, the Cosmo bus will be picking up college kids to vote and will be filled with “swag” and “snacks” according to the Washington Post.

But does the Cosmo Swag bus constitute a federal felony?  42 U.S.C. 1973i(c) prohibits giving anything of value for voting.  United States v. Garcia, 719 F.2d 99, extended this even to food.  To violate the criminal law, the offer must have been made to induce someone to vote.  What sort of evidence exists relevant to whether Cosmo is breaking federal election law?

Let’s turn to the Cosmo webpage announcing the party bus.  It states:

On Election Day, a bus decked out with snacks, swag, and models (hi, this is Cosmo) will roll up to North Carolina State University, the winner of Cosmopolitan.com’s first-ever party bus contest. The bus will shuttle students back and forth to a nearby polling location so students can vote. . . .

The contest is part of Cosmopolitan.com’s #CosmoVotes campaign, designed to get young people excited to vote in the midterm elections.

Let’s recap:  Intent to induce?  The Cosmo webpage lays out the intent of the campaign.  Thing of value?  Snacks. Swag. Models.

Of course such election laws are enforced by the US Attorney in Raleigh.  Don’t hold your breath that examination of the activity will even occur.  And Cosmo will be sure to say – “we aren’t offering anything of value to get people to go vote.”  They better get the Cosmo webmaster busy editing.