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Nevada election 2020 memes are winners, and you can bet on it

HURRY UP, NEVADA! Online jokes create a welcome diversion from the endless wait for results.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
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  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
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Gael Cooper
2 min read

While the US waits to find out who won the contentious 2020 presidential election, it can be hard to find the lighter side of the news. So give thanks for the social media pundits who found humor in a serious situation that seems to have no end in sight.

This story is part of Elections 2020, CNET's coverage of the voting in November and its aftermath.

Each of the battleground states that still appear to be up for grabs (Arizona has been called by some media outlets but not others) is receiving its share of jabs. Some were creatively state-centric, some worked for more than one location. Let's just say, there were a lot of sightings of Flash, the DMV worker sloth from the movie Zootopia, reimagined as a ballot counter.

Nevada: What a gamble

The state most ripe for jokes is Nevada, thanks in part to it being the home to always outlandish Las Vegas and its gambling, entertainment-focused, 24/7 culture.

"Literally the two things Nevada is known for is COUNTING THINGS and STAYING UP ALL NIGHT!!!!" wrote one Twitter user.

Wrote another, "If I've learned anything from watching movies set in Vegas, it's that Nevada gambled away all the ballots and for the last two days they've been attempting a series of wacky schemes and heists to win them back while also pretending they never lost them."

Count faster!

But the other battleground states -- Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina -- came in for their share of jabs, too. One tweet depicted four of the five states as the Golden Girls, yelling at Betty White's Rose to "get to the point!"

And there was even some competition among the states for who was most meme-able.

How long has this been going on?

Some of the best memes, however, aren't state-specific, they're just expressing the mood of the times.

Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich coined a new phrase, writing, "I remain nauseously optimistic."

Hang in there, America. There's no end in sight.