And the winner in the Mini Art Car voting is ... art lovers, controversy and ...

Who knew that voting for Mini Art Cars could turn into the biggest election scandal since the George W. Bush-Al Gore presidential race?

It just shows how much passion Houston (and CultureMap readers) have for the arts — and cool cars. More than 3200 votes were cast in the Mini Art Car Project Vote even though the poll only went up on Thursday night.

When the official noon Saturday deadline hit, artist Robynn Sanders' funky robots car held a mere 13-vote winning margin over artist Kim Granneman's whimsical black and white leaves car.

The poll was then taken off the front page of CultureMap, but enterprising art enthusiasts still found it and a computer system glitch allowed more post-deadline votes to be cast. No hanging chads here, but plenty of determined art lovers. Bill White and Rick Perry might want to consider getting Sanders' and Granneman's backers as their lobbyists.

CultureMap's Academy-Award-level secret accounting firm (or just the crew working on the weekend) verified the robots car as the first-place Mini. All four of these rushed-to-perfection Mini Art Cars (the artists only began their work on Monday) are on display at White Linen Night.

Besides the robots and the black-and-white whimsy, you don't want to miss Rebecca Bass' convertible that pays homage to artist Peter Max or Michelle Reyna's oil spill monsters Mini.

This impromptu project could eventually lead to a bunch of Mini Art Cars on the streets of Houston.

Stephanie O'Keefe of Momentum Motor Cars Houston — who thought up the Mini Art Car project after researching a similar idea in Europe —   envisions a time when Mini Cooper buyers will have the option of purchasing an Art Car finish to a new vehicle. Local artists would be commissioned to deck out those new Minis.