Now, website that offers to send monkey to pick up and deliver ballots

A London-based advertising agency in Soho has come up with a wacky way for Britons to cast their vote— free pick-up and delivery by a monkey.

Beattie McGuinness Bungay has created BallotMonkey.com, which hopes to drum up support for the May 6 vote, seen as the closest election in Britain in nearly 40 years.

"It's fun. It's easy," said Neil Powell of Beattie McGuinness Bungay. "It's definitely a tight race. Every little bit counts," the New York Daily News quoted Powell as saying.

Lizzie Stupak, a 27-year-old brand strategist who moved to New York from Britain in 2006, arranged for the Ballot Monkey to come to her Soho offices on Monday.

Yoko, a 10-month-old female Japanese snow macaque, arrived with a trainer and took Stupak's ballot after exploring her new surroundings for a bit.

"It's kind of a kooky campaign, but I think it's great," she said.

Powell said the monkeys are rented from New York-based All-Star Animals and the ad agency is picking up all costs - including shipping ballots overseas.

"We don't want them to be 'out of sight and out of mind,'" he said.