turnout

Minnesotans are expected to flock to the polls tomorrow in numbers not seen since the 1956 presidential election, when 83 percent of eligible voters chose between Dwight Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson (and Eisenhower carried the state with 54 percent of the vote).

The unofficial slogan this year in Secretary of State Mark Ritchie's office is "80 in '08," meaning that the goal is 80 percent of eligible voters casting votes tomorrow.

"We think we're well prepared," Beth Fraser, director of governmental affairs in Ritchie's office, said Monday afternoon. "We've been working with the county and city officials for months now.

"The counties have told us that they've printed more than enough ballots; in some cases they've taken the number of registered voters (in the county) and doubled that."