Georgia vote counting hopefully done before the Florida game, election official jokes

As Georgia election workers continue counting votes for the presidential election, one official reminded Americans about an important event that awaits this weekend.

University of Georgia football.

Gabriel Sterling, Georgia’s voting system implementation manager, said at a Friday afternoon news briefing that the hope is to complete the count Friday, but that “could slip into tomorrow” — just as long as it’s complete before the 3:30 p.m. game between University of Georgia and University of Florida, of course.

“Everybody is exhausted. It’s Friday. There is a Georgia game tomorrow. It’s kind of a big one,” Sterling joked. “We gotta focus on the really important things in this state sometimes in order to recover to be prepared for dealing with what is now a vital thing for this country.”

There is perhaps some sincerity to Sterling’s remark. The Georgia-Florida game is known as one of the most spirited rivalries in college football, and the teams are both ranked in the Top 10 in the country.

Georgia is among the states that could push Democratic nominee Joe Biden to a victory in the election. He was ahead of President Donald Trump by 1,616 votes as of Friday afternoon, and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said the race “remains too close to call.”

This story was originally published November 6, 2020 at 1:28 PM with the headline "Georgia vote counting hopefully done before the Florida game, election official jokes."