Alright Hokies, we've been called to action.
Some of our fellow Hokies are trying to win a $5000 dollar grant to start a "Campus Kitchen" to fight hunger in our beautiful Blacksburg. In order to win this grant all we have to do is win an online poll.
That's too little work for too much money for us to not win. Right now we are around 100 votes behind. Let's do this.
to vote scroll down until you see the Virginia Tech video. There will be a "vote now" button. Just click on that. One vote per day is all that's allowed.
Update 1: Good work so far lads and lasses! Their lead is already down to 80! Let's keep it up!
Update 2: We aren't going to get beat by Merrimack college, not on my watch... Within 40 points!
Update 3: We've pulled ahead!!! Beamer, avert your eyes, we're gonna run up the score!
Update 4: Alright, great work squad. We've got a lead of over 70! Keep in mind, this is just the first day of voting, we have to stay on top of this. I'll remind everyone to kick Merrimack college while their down tomorrow, until then, let's root for the Hokies vs BC tonight!
Update 5: Woke up this morning to see we're ahead by over 250 points!! Keep it rocking though, now is not the time to go into prevent defense. Always run through the tackle. Spread the word!
Update 6: We're two and a half days into voting and hold a 200 point lead, but we can't get to comfortable. Don't forget, this poll runs until 9th... plenty of time for Merrimack college to rally.
Update 7: Well things got squirrelly there for a minute. Merrimack jumped out to 200 lead, but we've clawed our way back. Up by only 50 or so. We need to hold the line.
Final Update: Thanks for everyone who voted!! We ended up finishing a mere 18 votes behind Merrimack College (by my calculations a .002% difference in votes)... However apparently the top three schools got the grant money! That is unexpected but happy news! Thanks again everyone, it was an honor to vote alongside my TKP brethern.

Comments
Voted!
A beer for you good sir!
Wow, what kind of black beer has blue head?
Lets not start that again. Quick somebody post a picture of that beer after it has been drunk!
Well done!!
Ehhhh I've tried everything I can think if and I still see it as black and blue.
Whatever, add my vote to the pile
Ah, that's the 50 Shades of Grey - BDSM beer.
It's a German smoked beer with polish fermented cabbage as an adjunct, the combination of a chemical in the smoke combining with proteins in the cabbage turning the foam blue.
Just voted will vote every day . GO HOKIES
One for today, and an advance for tomorrow's!
Locked 'n dropped!
I just brought us to within 1 vote!
Lemme pour you one right quick
Mason, please let me know if a house close to you comes up for sale. I need a neighbor like you.
VT now +60 over Merrimack. Let's go, Hokies!
Just made the count 590
We are at 755 which puts us up by 145.
Just sayin, you can vote on your computer, phone, tablet, library computer, etc.
And you can also vote again if you change wireless networks.
imagine if you lived somewhere that required a VPN with 50 different servers around the world you could vote from...
Vote number 784
Up to 785 thank you very much
Just voted us to 985, next closest is 682!
Edit: 935. Damn, I'm getting ahead of myself. Too early in the morning to count.
I went back on to share on Facebook and it let me vote again! Number 951 (I double checked this time).
Done!
Vote 936 has been cast for the good guys.
Just voted. Gonna (try to) vote err'day. For good measure, I spread the word ala Facebook (if only I twittered, too). We gon' lock this up.
Voted and shared.
Vote tally is up to 1071 now.
Voted again :D Got 2 in yesterday, one from work and one from home. Gonna try to remember to keep at it!
Nice!!
I voted and e-mailed a bunch of Hokies the link...
Bump
We are at 1582. Those Merrimack douchers (I say that with the utmost love as I have no idea who they are before this and it's just my competitive nature...GO HOKIES!) are about 220 behind. We need to keep it up because they are keeping pace.
Edit: nevermind found my answer
Keep voting!
Merrimack is closing the gap! keep voting
Do you mean LOLUVA closing the gap or actually closing the gap?
So Univesity of Houston is down with the shocker then? Looks like everyone in the video is flashing it
1758 now, and 250 ahead of second.
1802 now, second is 1583
I like those leggings for some reason (or maybe a couple).
Beer legs... I thought that would be perfect for TKP
Now we need some beer turkey legs
Aight yall, our lead is slipping. It's down below 250... That's well within reach of the competition. We need to make another push and get out of range to discourage them from participating.
I refuse to lose an online poll to the likes of Merrimack college. Time to drop the mic!
The lead is down to 130.
those a-holes are only 170 behind right now....5 more days!!
someone tweet this to Sands, Whit, Buzz and Beamer!!!
Holy crap, Merrimack is +103 on us...come on. We can do this.
Fired up the kindle and the phone and got you 2 more votes.
Who the hell is Merrimack College? We cannot lose this , LETS GO HOKIES !
Wikipedia says their entire enrollment of Merrimack College is 2500 undergrads and 225 grad students. It looks like the entire campus is voting for itself.
Time to make an end of day push and take back the lead!! Do your part!
Merrimac is apparently their featured school of the day, so they're being pushed really hard right now. I'm sure we'll pass them during our featured day.
Part of me feels like we're the big school taking something away from this small school where it would be maybe one of their only chances at beating us in something, then I think: Phuck that!
Keep voting!
Come on Hokies, we're 224 behind!
just did this
blockquote>
edit: I dont' know why it's not looking like a tweet but that's what it is.
Man, that's the equivalent of a Twitter nuclear strike if you get all those guys to RT you.
Hokies are getting their ass kicked by Merriack college, go vote!
We're 267 down at the moment.
Folks remember the Chicago way- vote early and vote often on every device you, your spouse, kid, employer etc
Seriously, one of Boyer's classes is bigger than the entirety of Merrimack College, and we're still losing???
I remember doing one of these things in college (mascot challenge maybe?). My friends and I would wander from computer lab to computer lab. Rack up a couple hundred votes in an hour or so. I'm sure someone more tech savvy could just automate voting using IP masking or something. Anyone tried deleting cookies and voting multiple times?
Someone should really Monitor this situation with Merrimack. I mean, we should have this thing locked down. Like ironclad locked down...
I'll get the NCAA investigation team on it.

Probably get a report in 2021
I'm pretty sure they have someone keeping track of it for them so that every time we make a push they can try and keep up. You can vote multiple times from the same device as well. Just refresh the page. Sometimes it may take a couple of refreshes for the vote to take but it allows it.
Sigh...
Great job coming back y'all! Can't fall asleep though, I don't think Merrimack is going anywhere.
We're down. I repeat, WE ARE TRAILING TO SOMETHING CALLED MERRIMACK COLLEGE.
Voted from computer, tablet, and phone. Down 124.
down by thirty - just added my vote - I'll see if I can get some others to join
Down by 7 as of my current vote
Tied at 3755.
3783
3847. Up by 38.
Edit: It's cookie based tracking. Removing/clearing cookies allows more votes.
now down by 30! ugh
You can also use an "incognito" window in chrome and just keep refreshing the page after each vote.
not working for me. guess I'll just have to go old school and vote on every device I can get my hands on
My three votes are in.
Down by 40. I think it's time we move on from beer.
so my computer at work is letting me refresh the page and keep voting.....so try voting....refreshing the page and voting again. Sometimes it takes it sometimes it takes a couple refreshes but I've voted a bunch already. I can't do it by myself though.
voted from computer, work computer, remote desktop, phone, kindle, girlfriend's computer, girlfriend's work computer, girlfriend's remote desktop, girlfriend's phone, girlfriend's ipad, and girlfirend's 3 work ipads (before you ask, she is an ipad app tester). phew.
we're 10 up at the moment...need to keep pushing
our facebook sharing is week compared to marrimacks. We need to up it to take those douchers out.
commenting to keep the post on the forum board
This is the most elaborate "bump" I've ever read
Yall are doing a great job! Keep it up! Remember, vote early and often...
slogan for the DNC?
Voted. Almost felt bad for pushing around the little guy...then I got over it
only up by 50. Let's pick it up people. You can't ever let them get back up.
motivation:
Merrimack's back in the lead. Gotta kind of respect them for their tenacity. Didn't stop me from voting, though. C'mon, y'all!
Bump.
We're back in the lead, but it's really close.
Oh god, I got confused with the voting system and voted for Merrimack. I followed with a vote for VT though.
Did the same thing!
Must win in everything!!!!
Keep voting!
Only up by 4... Keep Voting!
Vote 6157, up by 54
Down again
up by 17
Down by 1
Despite currently being down in the vote I have to say that I am very impressed with Merrimack. If TKPers weren't voting Virginia Tech would have lost this a long time ago.
Down by 1. Merrimack has game.
Gotta keep voting!
up by about 130 right now. Keep the foot on the throat. Not time to go all Beamer (no offense it's a joke) and let up. Finish strong!!
4 more votes tallied!
One more fully dipped vote submitted
Voted...anyone else feel bad for Shenandoah University? They are about 6k behind us.
Merrimack is trying to push. We were up about 250 this earlier this morning, they are about 106 down now. Just because the backups are in doesn't mean we let them score! Final push, only 2 more hours.
We're in the home stretch And clinging to a narrow lead. Let's bring it home.
30 minute to finish this thing! We can't let them catch us from behind!
Share on facebook, twitter, whatever guys. Let's do this.
Just used my last vote, we're still clinging to that lead, but it is slim.
C'mon, Hokies, let's make this a strong finish to a good game. No time to get tired fingers!!
up by 45 with as many minutes left.
Although they say it'll end at noon EST, I wonder if they remembered about daylight savings time.
It's about tied now. Gotta keep getting those votes in.
You can vote multiple times with private or incognito browsing
Vote refresh repeat
Keep it up those merrimackers are like zombies they just won't die
They are ahead! Damn't!
Keep voting!
Just voted, down by 1!!!!!!
and that was second on the day, so try to vote twice if you can
"Beamer, avert your eyes, we're gonna run up the score!"
Bruhhhh
man this is nerve racking. voting is just going up continuously on both sides.
Apparently, as long as I open a new window, my kindle can keep vote, vote, voting...
It's up to you!
Only up by 4.
behind by 8 on my screen.
they took lead :(
Their spam bot is more powerful than my old kindle.
By about 20
How did they get up by over a hundred???
Their lead just keeps growing!
damn they are kicking our ass now. Shameful that a campus of 30k cannot put down one of 3k. I am extremely impressed with their effort.
The same way we got 13 out of 15 weeks (and $130k) for that #itsgood2be competition during the season. A focused effort by a large part of the school/alumni base.
At this point, judging by the tweets on the blog roll, it's basically just the people trying to win, VT Dairy and TKP.
Back within 100. This ain't over.
Everyone needs to share this on Facebook and Twitter right now.
they are up by like 90!!!
They're up by about 100! Only an hour left!
Somebody at Merrimac ran a script and added 100 in the amount of time it took my screen to refresh.
how is scripting legal? damn if I knew that I would have had my IT guy do it all week.
Topped 8400, only 77 behind!
Less than 50 behind now!
If you tweet about it and tag @CampusKitchens they automatically retweet it
8500 +, only 20 behind!
Someone cue up Enter Sandman...
TOOK THE LEAD!
Damn, if I had seen this thing yesterday, I would have written a script, fired up some VM's, and our count would be approaching Integer.MAX_VALUE right about now..
WE RETOOK THE FUCKING LEAD!!!
Let's step on their necks.
Got a Twitter chain going hopefully it helps.
Up by almost 70, keep the foot on the gas!
Every time I vote it goes up by 4 or 5. I must be filled with dork magic!
I'm seeing us with a 200 vote lead (8878 vs 8674) but that's not stopping me from voting on all my devices. Go Hokies! Lock it up!
Sink the Merrimack!
I made the 8989'th vote. That has to mean something right?
15 mins to go. We have been maintaining a 200+ lead. Keep it up!
Voted a couple more times with the kindle.
holy crap merrimack just jumped up like 200 votes when i refreshed my computer
They're within 50! Keep voting!
The page is crashing and Merrimac just jumped 200 in last 3 mins
Wow...they added over 500 votes in final 5 mins
Single digit lead!
no way!! they jumped like 400 votes in the last like 2 min
No idea how they did that. Absolutely ridiculous.
Time's up...Who won?
We lost.
Last I saw we were behind by 15! I call BS on that!
Is wrong that I'm pissed that we lost??!?! this is BS!!
We lost by 18 votes.... after being ahead by over 300 with 5 minutes to go. Lame.
So in the end all but Shenandoah University won...
......I must have missed that part.
I was about to post this. We still won the $5000 grant.
http://www.campuskitchens.org/2015/03/launch-grant-winners/
I just wish their was a way to contact them about the obvious cheating by Merrimack. There is no ethical way that they jump 200 votes at a time. Their $5000 should go to Shenandoah University.
this is called cover your ass diplomacy. They had clear issues with their rules, or lack their of, that governed this vote. Seeing such blatant rigging of votes they had to do something.
Merrimack played within those very loose rules and won. Good for them, sort of. Too bad for Shenandoah though.
I mean, on the one hand yeah, they probably cheated. On the other, it at least shows that they have a small group of extremely passionate supporters that really want this to happen. Given that this is a 5k grant and requires the winning groups to put in a significant amount of work to actually accomplish CK's mission, you could argue that Merrimack is very much deserving of their grant.
agreed. they wanted it badly and now get the joy of the work it's going to take to achieve it.
real winners? those that need this service in three communities.
Well, awesome. Still wanted to win, but that's nice too.
So Houston did jack shit and still gets the $5K. I think it's safe to say they're the real winners.
Meh I can't really fault Merrimack given how we won the VS voting competition a few years ago...
WE GOT FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS. WE GOT FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS.
my guess is that merrimac has had a script to auto-vote the whole time. As we got more people voting multiple times, they adjusted the variables to match, thus the massive increase in their votes near the end. They just cheated better than us, what can I say?