GEORGETOWN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Nearly 2.2 million people across Michigan have already voted early as of Wednesday morning, according to the Michigan Voting Dashboard.

More than half a million of those voters have done so in person.

Ottawa County is running four early voting sites this year, located in Holland, Grand Haven Township, Polkton Township and Georgetown Township. Some of them have been quite busy.

News 8 saw waits of nearly an hour at Georgetown Township Hall Wednesday afternoon. There, Mark and Jeryl Spencer of Jenison voted early together for the first time.

“We wanted to make sure we got our vote in,” Mark Spencer said. “At the front desk … they said at this point, it’s an hour. They were right. It was 57 minutes.”

Ottawa County kicked off nine days of early in-person voting on Saturday. There were two-hour waits in Holland and Georgetown Township that day, Ottawa County Clerk Justin Roebuck confirmed.

“We were really inundated at the opening,” he said.

Roebuck said his office had anticipated high turnout in the presidential election. Since opening day, the county has continued to hire more staff to check people in, manage lines and run polling stations.

Roebuck said the adjustments have made the lines more manageable. Wait times have generally fluctuated between 15 minutes and an hour, he said. Georgetown Township and Holland have continued to be the most popular voting locations.

There’s a reason why it takes time. Roebuck says it’s to make sure the election is secure.

“We’re looking at IDs, verifying the voter’s profile within the Qualified Voter File, verifying the precinct and jurisdiction where they belong and making sure they get the right ballot,” he said. “That does take some time. The integrity of that process has to take time.”

On the county website, you can see ahead of time exactly how long the wait is at each location.

“We are doing everything we can to process voters as quickly as possible,” Roebuck said. “So thank you is what I would say (to voters). Thank you for waiting. Thank you for being patient. Thank you for participating in this process, because it’s meaningful for all of us.”

Roebuck also encouraged voters to remember there are still several days of early in-person voting remaining, as well as other options to cast a ballot.

The Spencers are glad they voted early.

“I thought it was very efficient,” Mark Spencer said. “They were very organized. It was as fast as the lines could. They had a lot of voting stations. It was very convenient.”

He said he will continue to take advantage of early voting in the future.

“It’s easier than a Tuesday, work schedule or whatever,” he said. “This is a nice hole in our schedule, and we just took advantage of it. We kind of knew the lines would be pretty long, especially here in West Michigan.”