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“Prentice saw it, as most of us did, as a sleepy campaign. But he awakened something in Alberta.”

Even so, Bratt said it’s difficult to predict what will happen when the ballots are counted after the polls — which open at 9 a.m. — close at 8 p.m.

Photo by JASON FRANSON / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Voter turnout, which had climbed to 54 per cent in the last campaign in 2012, could prove to be critical in Tuesday’s election as each party strives to get out their supporters.

Elections Alberta reported Monday that a record number of people turned out in advance polls last week, with 235,410 Albertans marking a ballot — a 31-per-cent increase from the 2012 election. The advance poll votes represent about nine per cent of the 2.5 million people on Elections Alberta voters’ list.

On Monday, the final hours of the four-week campaign saw the NDP, PCs and Wildrose still gamely scrapping as the Liberals announced a fiscal policy and the Alberta Party dismissed a candidate.

Early in the day, Prentice predicted another Tory majority, while Notley insisted Alberta is ready for “a new premier who stands up for families” as the rivals stumped in the area Edmonton.

“We’re going to get a majority Conservative government,” Prentice, who took over as premier in September, told cheering supporters at a Leduc A&W before heading to Red Deer and Calgary. “We’ll be fine right across the province.”

Prentice — who was forced to deal with a court case involving former justice minister, and current Calgary-Acadia candidate, Jonathan Denis on the last day of the campaign — brushed off recent polls that showed the NDP in the lead while keeping up his attack on Notley’s party.