Last word (at least from me) on the whole cheating issue. I'm operating on the assumption that the folks who designed the voting system have safeguards in place to prevent (or at least make it excruciatingly difficult) for any cheating to occur. I do think Nichyria has an advantage, living in a large metropolitan city. It says "Boston" under Craig's video when it begins, but we don't live in Boston. Some of the Franklin schools are letting kids vote during Computer Lab, and it's great that they're doing that, but if we actually lived in Boston and Boston public schools did the same, there'd be a big difference in the number of votes generated.
In my opinion, it's not a racial thing at all. I think for all the kids, it's just easier to generate votes from people in your own community. I know the residents of Franklin have been more supportive of Craig than anyone else. I'm assuming the same is true for Nichyria. There are a lot more people in Chicago that in Franklin, MA. I don't know specifically where the other 3 kids in the contest actually live. I did some research on Nichyria only to try to figure out how it could be possible for her voting percentage to rise so quickly.
I've been concentrating my efforts on reaching out beyond Franklin, to try to increase his chances. The virtual lack of media response hurts. Channel 5, as the ABC affiliate, is our best shot, but no response yet. Craig was interviewed Monday after school for a local paper, and as of last night, the reporter hadn't even tried to call anyone on the list of contacts we gave her, to complete the story. It's frustrating for me. His chances of winning might be slim, but I'll keep trying b/c when this is over, I want to feel like I've done all I could, and not like I've let him down. People here--who have taken the time to read about this, to respond, and to vote--have been great. Even if you don't think it will make a difference in the end results, please keep voting. It makes a difference to me, and to my son.
Here are the links, tomake it easier:
www.espn.com/earnyourstripes or
http://promo.espn.go.com/espn/specialsection/kelloggs/index
Thanks for listening--when I started this, I didn't expect it to be so long....
"Sorry about that.