An exhausted Govind Kilambi came across one of his Student Association campaign posters Friday afternoon and knew what he had to do.

“I took it down and threw it in the garbage,” he said.

Former Senate candidate Luke Moses spent that afternoon trying to stay awake long enough to finish the paper he needed to turn in by 5 p.m.; he had not been able to work on it during the week because of the election.

After a combined 22 hours of standing in the cold outside the Marvin Center March 2 and 3 and weeks of planning their campaigns, neither Kilambi nor Moses received enough votes to become senators in next year’s Student Association.

“The initial shock of not winning is always there,” Kilambi said Saturday afternoon. He finished with 134 votes, 76 shy of the third person to get an Elliott School of International Affairs undergraduate seat.

Moses said he tried to keep things in perspective throughout the campaign.

“The whole time I thought the chances were about 50-50,” he said Friday evening. “(The election) was as close as I thought it would be.”

He received 440 votes for the Columbian College undergraduate position; with 40 more votes he would have won.

“I am so relieved that this is over, you have no idea,” Moses added.

The week leading up to the elections was by far the busiest of the campaign. Monday and Tuesday night, Kilambi and Moses joined other candidates for “dorm storming,” the tedious task of speaking to residents in their halls. Wednesday and Thursday they stood in Kogan Plaza, trying to foist fliers upon students who, for the most part, paid them little attention.

Finally, they joined other SA candidates Thursday night in the Hippodrome shortly before midnight to hear Joint Election Committee officials announce the election results.

After paper ballot results were in, Moses was squeaking by with just enough votes to win.

“I’m a little nervous,” he said around 2 a.m. Friday. “If I win or lose it’s been a great experience.”

After Kilambi and Moses’s races were too close to call at 3:45 a.m., they got some sleep but woke up the next day ready for the results. Joining other candidates once again in J Street at 11:30 a.m., Moses, who was supposed to be at an internship, and Kilambi, who was supposed to be in class, heard that they had lost their races.

“People were crying and hugging,” Moses said. “I think I was least emotional out of the people there.”

Kilambi said his supporters, some of whom are SA senators, gave him a “pep talk” after the results were announced. He said he appreciated their encouragement but did not need it thanks to his experience losing elections in high school student government.

That afternoon he called his volunteers to thank them and went to class.

“I was pretty much exhausted. I only got 10 minutes of sleep the night before,” said Kilambi.

As for looking back on their mistakes, the candidates said they will move on after a few days.

“I keep thinking, ‘If I had canvassed one more floor I could have talked to 50 more people.’ I try not to think what could have been, what should have been done,” Moses said. “Hindsight is always 20/20.”

Kilambi also said he is moving on.

“It isn’t going to haunt me. I don’t hold grudges; it’s all about getting back on the horse,” he said, adding that a major factor standing in the way of another Senate campaign next year would be the out-of-pocket cost. Kilambi spent a little less than $200, while Moses spent around $120.

Moses said he’ll consider running again but doesn’t think it’s very likely.

“We’ll have to see when we get there but I doubt it,” he said. “Not here anyway.”