Early voting increases as more cities open and voters don’t mind long lines – ABC 6 News

(KSTP) – As several new early voting sites open just days before Election Day, long lines are forming as some eager voters wait two hours to cast their ballot for the country’s next president.

Starting Friday, Ramsey County residents will have four new polling locations where they can vote early. At at least two library locations, lines stretched out the door and along the side wall.

“It would have been nice to just slip in and out in five minutes. But you wait and do your duty,” said Andrei Peterka, who waited an hour and a half to vote at the Roseville Public Library.

“It’s great. It’s the people who go to the polls [you can’t get too] “I’m angry about it,” Peterka added.

A similar scene occurred at the Shoreview Public Library, where Ron Bombeck waited for two hours.

“It’s one of the few decisions where we’re supposed to really matter,” Bombeck said of the reason he waited.

They are just two of hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans who have cast their ballots – at least 337,633 ballots were accepted in the first four weeks of early voting, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.

“I think the glass is half full. “This shows a lot of excitement, a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of energy behind the vote,” said Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon.

“If you look at the last election without Covid eight years ago, [which is] probably a pretty good point of comparison, we have more than double the number of mail-in ballots accepted,” Simon added. “I think that only happens when there is a basic feeling that things are good, that we have a good system.”

He also cites the great interest in this election and new habits that have emerged during the pandemic as reasons for the high number.

“It’s just an honor to be in a country where we can vote for whoever we want,” said Peggy Towle, another Ramsey County voter.

“I feel like this may be the most important time of my life to vote, and I have had many opportunities to vote. But I think it’s really monumental,” Towle added.

Information about early voting locations in Ramsey County, including wait times, can be found HERE.