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(FOX 9) - Minnesotans waited in long absentee voting lines Monday, choosing to avoid Election Day hassles, while campaigns spent the waning moments of the 2020 race appealing to voters who have not yet cast their ballots.

Minnesotans had cast 1,839,710 absentee ballots and ballots from mail-only precincts as of Monday evening, Secretary of State Steve Simon said. That represents 62% of all votes cast in 2016.

The 2020 figure continued to rise throughout Monday, with long lines at in-person voting centers across the state.

Voters have requested 2,137,192 absentee ballots (including mail-only precincts whose registered voters automatically receive ballots).

Simon said overall turnout could hit 80 percent of the state's voting-age population. Minnesota has only hit that mark once -- in 1956, when voter turnout was 83 percent.

"It would not surprise me to smash the 77 percent modern-day mark (set in 2008), and perhaps bust past the 80 percent mark," Simon told reporters. "It’s pretty electric out there right now – on all sides."

The Hennepin County Government Center was jammed as absentee voting ended at 5 p.m. Election workers estimated a three-hour wait time, and said everyone in line would get to vote Monday night.

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Lines were also long in Stears and Benton counties. In St. Cloud, voters estimated they had waited 45 minutes to an hour. The line went out the door and down the sidewalk in Foley.

For some voters, voting Monday took half the day -- especially for voters in rural counties who live far from their counties' in-person voting centers, requiring a long drive.

More than $100 million has been spent on Minnesota by outside groups and candidates for president, U.S. Senate and House seats, and state legislative seats. Campaigns crisscrossed the state Monday in search of supporters who had not yet voted, or people who were still undecided about their choices.

Democrats rallied Monday morning in White Bear Lake. Supporters stood in socially distanced hula hoops, drawing a contrast to President Donald Trump, who has insisted on large campaign rallies.

"We do not want to wake up like we did four years ago. We all have PTSD from that election and I think it’s probably making us work a little bit harder because we don’t believe any of the noise out here," DFL chairman Ken Martin said.

Neither Trump nor Democrat Joe Biden have made return trips to the state after their quick stops on Friday, choosing to spend the closing days in states where the polls are even closer than Minnesota, where they show Biden with a slim lead.

Republicans were door-knocking across the state Monday.

"I think we all know that if Joe Biden was in Minnesota four days before the presidential election in a state that democrats have won since 1972, I think it’s a little more competitive than they want us to believe," said House Republican Leader Kurt Daudt, R-Crown.

If you voted early or plan to, your ballot is being counted now and will be included in Tuesday’s results.

You can check the status of your absentee ballot at mnvotes.org/track. It can tell you whether your ballot was received by election officials on which date it was received and whether it has been counted or is still being processed.