Ridgecrest Elementary School won the vote.
I was pretty sure they would when Hudiberg Toyota changed the rules towards the end of the contest and said that they would end the voting at a random time of their choosing. This meant that they would choose the winner, and not the voters, so I don't understand why they didn't just give the money outright to Ridgecrest Elementary if they wanted that school to have the money. Ridgecrest certainly deserves the money - indeed, every school deserves additional financial support as they are all suffering under recent and punitive budget cuts.
But running a contest and then changing the rules when you weren't getting the outcome you wanted is kind of shabby in my opinion.
If you want to give money to someone, just give the money to them. Don't go dragging all those other schools in and getting their hopes up.
Offering a consolation prize to the 2nd and 3rd place winners doesn't compensate for the bad flavor left behind on a contest that feels as if it were "fixed".
I will not be participating in or encouraging others to participate in any future contests run by Hudiberg Toyota. My confidence and trust in their integrity and honesty has been broken.
Edited to Add: I just found out that the Hudiberg children attended Ridgecrest Elementary, the "winner" of this contest. That reinforces my feelings that if they wanted to donate money to that school, they should have just done so, instead of running a sham of a contest.