PINETOP, AZ (AZFamily) -- A prolonged closure of a Pinetop post office has resulted in some residents still waiting on their ballots, even though the election is just a few days away. Other residents are waiting on late social security benefit checks.

The post office has been closed for construction since September 16. While the other location in Lakeside is just a five-minute drive away, locals said their wait time can be over an hour, and mail is held outside in the tent during the day.

One resident, Aprille Machado, said it's caused issues for the small community full of retirees, including wait times that can be over an hour long.

"There's a lot of elderly people I've seen that have stood in line for over an hour with an oxygen tank," Machado said. "Today I waited in line for 30 minutes for mail from September 30th."

The closure, now almost two months long, was only supposed to last a month. The U.S. Postal Service said it had to get a new contractor and is waiting to finalize the new contract. The agency apologized to the community for the inconvenience.

Machado said it's extremely frustrating because the community hasn't heard any updates since they were first notified.

"We were told it was only supposed to be four weeks and we're way past that so I have to come here every day to pick up 'P.O. Box mail' that isn't in a P.O. Box," Machado said.

She works for a local utility company and said this closure is causing late payments.

"Luckily we're local we understand so we have waived all late fees and stuff like that but people have been sending payments in the mail and calling and coming in like 'you haven't gotten my payment I sent it a month ago,'" Machado said.

She's also concerned about security because the mail is kept in a tent outside. USPS said the mail is monitored at all times and brought inside at night.

"There's checks, there's people's personal information it's just sitting there," Machado said. "As you can see it's windy today so if it gets really windy I mean it's a tent."

She said there are plenty of empty buildings where another location could open. She just hopes there will be a solution soon before the snow hits.

"People are going to be waiting," Machado said. "This line has wrapped around this building before. It's not good for snow."

USPS said there's no estimated time frame for when the Pinetop location will be open.