(KSTP) — With several new early voting sites opening just days to Election Day, long lines form as some eager voters wait two hours to cast their vote for the nation’s next president. 

As of Friday, Ramsey County residents have four new polling locations to vote early. At two library locations, at least, lines stretched out the door and down the sideway. 

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

“It’s great. It’s people turning out to vote, [you can’t get too] mad about that,” Peterka added. 

It was a similar scene at the Shoreview Public Library, where Ron Bombeck waited two hours. 

“It’s one of the few choices where we really supposedly matter,” Bombeck said about why he waited. 

They’re just two of hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans who submitted their votes—according to the Secretary of State’s office, at least 337,633 ballots have been accepted as of the first four weeks of early voting. 

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

“If you look at eight years ago, the last non-covid election, [which is] probably a pretty good comparison point, we are at more than double the number of absentee ballots accepted,” Simon added. “I think that only happens if there is that baseline feeling that things are good, that we have a good system.”

He also points to the high interest in this election and new habits picked up during the pandemic as reasons for the high number. 

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

“I feel like this might be the most important time to vote in my life, and I’ve had many opportunities to vote. But truly, I think this one is monumental,” Towle added. 

For early voting locations in Ramsey County, including wait times, visit HERE.