OTTAWA COUNTY, Mich. — The secretary of state’s office shows more than 2 million Michigan residents have voted with days until early voting.

That number represents more than a quarter of active registered voters in the state, and officials expect it to grow even more.

“More than 389,000 people voted at an in-person early voting site, and more than 1.6 million voters cast their ballots by mail or ballot drop box,” Michigan Secretary of State said in a press release .

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Ottawa County saw a strong turnout of 10,000 voters at its four early voting locations.

“I saw the parking lot was about as full as a Lions game, so it wasn’t too optimistic, but I gave it a shot,” Garrett Dickey said. *****

Dickey and his wife, Heather, were hoping to vote Tuesday at one of Ottawa County’s early voting locations. After waiting in line for more than 15 minutes, they plan to return another day.

“We were just hoping to, you know, come in and do this so we wouldn’t have to worry about it next week, Tuesday,” Heather Dickey said.

The waiting time was poster like a theme park with a white eraser board at the main entrance.

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“We’re lucky and we could both go on Tuesday, so we were just trying to get it done beforehand,” Garrett added.

At one point, more than 150 people, including a group of Hope College undergraduates, were in line.

“Nothing crazy, but there was a sign at the beginning that prepared us for the queue, so it was too long,” Kaiya Theune said.

BREAKDOWN: Ottawa County voter turnout

TOTAL: 13,137
October 29: 4,113
Southeast site, Georgetown Township: 1,336
South West Holland: 1,277
Northwest Grand Haven: 790
Northeast Polkton Township: 680

“It was just easier to do it now, and going home would have taken more time out of our day,” Phoebe Ryan said.

People waited about three hours on the first day of early voting at another location. The Ottawa County Clerk’s Office has made adjustments to accommodate these large crowds. They explained that they have taken a few key steps to reduce wait times:

• Added recording stations to all four locations.
• We’re calling in a lot of reinforcements.
• Bring emergency devices on call for increased numbers.

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Many issues bring people to the polls in large numbers.

“Our reproductive rights are something that is very important to us, and having the opportunity to have a say is very important,” Ryan added.

“I was really hoping to get my vote in favor of tax cuts and the middle class.”

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and then, of course, as a woman, I just wanted to help preserve my rights as a woman,” said Ellie Theune.

“The border, among other things, the economy, and I don’t really like communist policies,” Dennis Flynn said.

Ottawa County is currently preprocessing mail-in ballots. The county sent out 74,684 absentee ballots. The Registry explains that 54,875 returned.

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