VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Amy Styles waited for about 70 minutes to cast her ballot at Bayside Recreation Center in Virginia Beach on Monday.
“It went very smoothly," Styles said. "I tell you what it was, a proud moment as I was nearing the final stretch."
Before Monday's ballots had been counted, 1,951,638 voters had cast early ballots in the November election. With Monday's count, that number is expected to exceed 2 million.
“I think we’re going to see numbers of votes that we’ve never seen before," Styles said.
She's one of several voters who said they drove to different Virginia Beach polling locations to see which early voting line appeared to be the shortest, before stopping to vote at Bayside Rec Center.
Most people reported it took about an hour to wait in line and cast a ballot.
“I’m content with that, you know, but if it would’ve been longer, I would’ve still stood for it," said voter Anthony Brown.
Early in-person voting ends Saturday in Virginia.
“Coming out earlier, I think you have a better shot at getting a line you can handle," Brown said.
Last week in Virginia, about 90,000 people voted early each day. Hampton Roads election officials said they expect high numbers again this week in the last week of early voting.
Two million early voters are close to four times the number of Virginians who voted early in the 2016 presidential election.
Brown said the process felt safe and comfortable, with masks and social distancing.
“I took some time off of work during the middle of the day to get this taken care of," he said. "I’m happy with it, I feel good about it.”