WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — The lines were long as people waited to go up to the Luzerne County Bureau of Elections office to cast their early votes in the 2020 election.
"I'm excited that so many people turned out, and I'm excited that, you know, we can come early," said Tracy Alston-Bunn of Hanover Township while she stood in line. "We have social distancing going on as much as you can do, possibly, and I just want people to, you know, if you're not going to vote, don't complain for the next four years. That's the way I look at it."
"I think it's good because I've looked at the vote, and especially so in a better way so people can come on here and take advantage of things that we need right now," said Hamza Aziz of Kingston as he waited to vote.
"Well, it's good. It looks like everything is organized, is pretty good. We're happy and safe. Everything is good. Everybody's nice," said Maria Acosta of Wilkes-Barre.
"We want to make sure we did this in person. We didn't want to; we didn't trust the postal system with this. You know, we heard there was fraud. We're Trump supporters, and we want to make sure our vote's definitely there," added Thomas Gilmartin of Wilkes-Barre, as he stood in line with Acosta.
While many voters said they didn't mind waiting in line, those who had mail-in ballots mailed to their homes were thankful they could just come in and drop it off without waiting.
"There's a box in the lobby where you could just put your ballot right in the box. And that's it. I was in and out in a bin matter of two minutes," explained John Graham of Wilkes-Barre.
Graham said he could have mailed in his vote but wanted to come down instead.
"I just wanted to make sure. I trust the mail, but I just wanted to make sure it got here in time. So as soon as I got it, fill it out, bring it down. Don't procrastinate the vote early," added Graham.
"Democracy isn't a spectator sport; it's not for bleacher bums. You got to get involved. So that's why I'm here, to do my democratic duty," said Eugene Wallace of Wilkes-Barre.
If you want to learn more about the early-voting process in Luzerne County, you can read our story about it here, or visit the Luzerne County Elections website.