WATCH: Long Islanders Wait Hours To Vote Early; Motives Vary

NORTH BABYLON, NY — As early voting continues, Long Islanders are reporting waiting in hour-long lines to cast their vote in the 2020 presidential election. The nine days of early voting in the days leading to Nov. 3 saw a huge turnout of early ballots: Newsday reported that a total of 55,000Suffolk and Nassau residents voted on Saturday and Sunday alone.

Tiffany Aponte, a West Bablyon resident, was one of the early voters on Sunday. She told Patch she waited four hours to vote at the Phelps Lane town hall building in North Babylon. The line stretched into a neighboring parking lot, where voters patiently waited in socially-distant zigzagging lines.

"I feel this is the most important election of my lifetime and probably the most crucial for the future of our country. My mother, sister—who voted for the first time ever—and I wanted to make sure we got our votes in. I know there are many others who feel this same way and if early voting was not an option, waiting for Election Day would have been a nightmare for anyone who decided to wait, including the poll workers," Aponte said.

"Also, if I had waited to vote on a work day, a long line would have been discouraging. So while I had the time and the opportunity was given, why not?"

Jacque Auer, of Babylon, spent two hours waiting at the town hall annex building on Monday afternoon.

She chose to vote early because of two reasons, she explained.

"I was nervous about mailing my ballot and I couldn't go on Election Day because of kids and work. I figured I'd just go and get it out of the way."

The Town of Babylon's Facebook page lists estimated wait times for each day of early voting. Wednesday morning's wait time was listed at three and a half hours.

But for many voters, the wait times were no deterrent.

"I'd expect due to the current climate of the country, the people who may not have cared enough to vote before are most likely feeling the urgency to do so now. I'm sure there will be record numbers. I can't wait to see the outcome of the total voters in comparison to other elections," Aponte reflected.