Superheroes like Stacey Abrams are receiving their due for the incredible work they’ve done to register voters and flip states like Georgia to blue as former Vice President soon-to-be president-elect Joe Biden inches closer and closer to becoming our 46th president. But the unsung heroes in all of this chaos are the workers tasked with counting all of these damn ballots in one of the most important presidential elections in the history of our country—an election that’s seen the highest turnout since 1908.
All of those long hours assuredly work up an appetite, so at the Allegheny County ballot-counting site in Pittsburgh, ESPN reports that the Pittsburgh Steelers made it a point to provide all of those gracious souls doing the Lord’s work with a generous supply of “chicken, rigatoni, veggies, rolls, pies and more,” courtesy of local eatery The Goose Express.
“We’re just trying to look out for the people that are looking out for us,” Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick told ESPN on Thursday. “They have a very hard task. They’re working crazy hours, like 9 a.m. to 2 a.m., which isn’t an easy task. We just wanted to look out for them. Gratitude. Not too many people are looking out for them, so we just wanted to take care of them and make sure they were looked after and taken care of. Just looking out.”
Amanda Wood, an employee at The Goose Express who delivered the food for 65 people, told CNN: “We figured it was a good opportunity to help them give back.” As the second most populated county in the state, Allegheny County has played a pivotal role as votes continue to be counted in Pennsylvania—one of the remaining battlegrounds where Biden currently leads.
In September, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin joined Hall of Fame running back Jerome Bettis and other Pennsyvania-based sports figures for a public service announcement that encouraged residents to participate in mail-in voting. Tomlin also made it a point to mention the importance of remaining politically engaged during a press conference on Election Day.
“We’re professionally focused, but we’ve been talking continually about being active participants in the political process and exercising our right to vote,” Tomlin said on Tuesday. “It requires no special meeting or no point of emphasis today. We all know what today is.”
Shoutout to all the elections workers putting in work throughout the country. Now can somebody busy some pizzas or something for the ones out in Nevada?