Of course, some might suggest that offering bribes to people voting a particular way corrupts, and thus invalidates, the results...
Which is why I didn't do it, earlier, regardless of my personal feelings on the absurdity of the half-elf being the winner. At this point, I don't think it made an actual difference.
It was more a matter of supporting the sentiment of incredulity that the half-elf was even a contender, let alone winner. The drow is the only race in the 5E PHB that I actually don't think should have been there. The half-elf, though, is a weird also-ran, IMO. Elves get a lot of flak for being mary-sue characters, but you can at least tweak their history to make them interesting. The half-elf takes the mary-sue of the elf, gives it a hipster beard,
and a Charisma bonus.
See, because the half-elf is an emo outcast that was always teased as a child, but that has great strength of personality, leadership ability, and general likability. He has the grace, dignity, and androgynous sex-appeal of the elf; but he also has the rugged handsomeness, relative sturdiness, and versatility of a human. All that, with a healthy dose of silent loner on top. Drizz't only wishes he could be so cool.