The end is finally in sight. Hallelujah! If you have been paying any sort of attention to campus goings-on (and if you care), you know the protracted election season will finally end Thursday. You will no longer be deluged with posters, palm cards and other various pieces of campaign literature. You can return to the happy lives you led before the elections swept into town. All the bad memories of this election season can be put away and forgotten.

It’s about time.

This election season has been ridiculous, and that’s an understatement. The drama surrounding candidates’ ballot status is well-known. Lesser known perhaps is the silliness behind the scenes. Here, for those who have had more important things to worry about than the elections, is what you’ve missed:

 anonymous e-mails sent to a candidate threatening to expose him as a rapist unless he drops out of the race immediately;

 posters mysteriously removing themselves from walls late at night and being replaced the next day, only to be gone again the following evening;

 posters “spontaneously combusting” in the middle of the afternoon in the Academic Center breezeway;

 “student groups” sprouting up faster than rabbits during mating season to endorse candidates;

 anonymous e-mails accusing different candidates of a host of crimes and ethics violations. The only thing missing was an accusation that one of the candidates was part of the JFK assassination.

And people wonder why students are disillusioned with the SA and its elections. It should be obvious. What position of leadership is worth dealing with the everyday threats and lies that accompany campaigning?

Every year, SA leaders beg students to get involved in the organization. They complain when campus media print negative opinion pieces. They insist that they truly are the voice of students. And then they trounce on their own work by delving into petty, conniving games. And they lay the blame on anyone they can find when students don’t take them seriously. Interesting logic.

Students who spent countless hours hatching plots for how to destroy their opponents should take a few moments to think about whether it was all worth it. Carrying out acts that belong in elementary school benefits no one. At this point, the best part of the election season is that it’s finally over.