| Election Aftermath: Many confused college students |
| EVANSTON, Ill. -- "What am I voting for?" "Wait, what is this for, again?" Many confused college students across the country were bewildered on Monday, as friends they hadn't talk to for months, maybe years, suddenly gave them an IM or call, pleading with them to vote for their respective candidates (and to tell everyone on their buddy lists to do the same). "Frankly, I have no idea what the heck you guys are doing," one student at Ohio State University said while he/she voted. "But someone tells me to tell you 'Andy Kim.'" Most knew that this election was somehow tied to autistic children. But just like in a game of 'telephone' gone awry, the message became increasingly distorted as word of the election spread towards the coasts. Although the three candidates were competing for money so that they could donate money to autistic children as part of Northwestern University's Dance Marathon fundraiser (where participants raise $375 so that they can dance for 30 consecutive hours to benefit the Have Dreams Foundation), that message got lost somewhere down the line. Many around the country thought that the candidates Rebecca Tsang and Andrew Kim were autistic. "Wait...so...these autistic kids are going to dance for 30 hours? Can I vote for both of them?" one ballot read. Then there was the matter of repairing friendships. The staffmembers of the Tsang and Kim camps said that many friends refused to talk to them by the end of Monday night because they were getting exasperated with the constant requests to vote and pass the message along. "But it was all worth it!!" said Boramie Kim, senior staffmember of Kim's campaign. Meanwhile, Crepe Diem Party candidate William T. Ethridge, who pulled in about 5% of the vote, was 'shocked' and 'outraged' that the money ended up being split between the two candidates. But he was proud and grateful to all his supporters. "I'd like to especially thank my running mate, Joyce Lee, for making this a fun and enjoyable experience," he said in a public statement. "On the other hand, I'm dismayed by how tainted the election had gotten towards the end." President-elect Kim plans to throw a party to thank his supporters sometime soon. |