British Columbians made history today, when they cast ballots for a new provincial government in the country's first fixed-date election.

The polls opened at 8 a.m. Tuesday morning with election organizers expecting a heavier-than-usual turnout.

Four days of advanced polls saw an 81-per-cent jump in the number of people voting compared to the 2001 election, says Elections B.C. spokeswoman Jennifer Miller.

"We hope that this is a sign that the 22-year trend of declining rates will turn around this election," Miller said.

As well, about 2.8 million people were registered to vote -- 700,000 more than four years ago.

Elections B.C. has also focused on registering voters at homeless shelters and seniors homes and encouraged voter registration in Indo-Canadian, Chinese, and aboriginal communities.

It was in 2001 when Premier Gordon Campbell's Liberals won a landslide 77 of 79 seats that left then-NDP premier Ujjal Dosanjh scrambling for enough seats to form the opposition.

Now, Campbell is campaigning to become the first B.C. premier to be re-elected in two decades.

Tuesday morning, he walked to a polling station with his wife Nancy and two adult sons.

"I've been very pleased with the campaign," Campbell said.

"I think that we've got great support across the province."

On Monday, the leaders of the province's major parties took their message to voters.

Campbell was in the Vancouver area, telling people he is the best choice to build and maintain the province's economic momentum.

With Campbell's Liberals showing a large, firm lead in the polls, it was left to NDP Leader Carole James to try to rally support to increase her party's standing of just two seats.

James headed north to Prince George, where she argued that the benefits of B.C.'s boom have not been distributed fairly.

"This is an area that has been hard hit by many of the decisions made by the Campbell government," James said, noting the area was home to the largest number of school closures during Campbell's first term as premier.

Campaigning in Vancouver, Green Leader Adriane Carr said neither of the two traditional leading parties were fit to govern -- and urged voters to pay special attention to a referendum question at the ballot box.

In a second ballot, voters will be asked to vote for or against a form of proportional representation known as the single transferable vote system, or STV.

Based on a recommendation produced by the 160-member citizens assembly Campbell established back in 2003, if passed the measure would see the number of ridings in B.C. reduced from 79 to as few as 15 or 25.

Each riding would be represented by more than one MLA -- with voters given the chance to rank their favourites from a list of candidates.

The theory is that MLAs elected under that system would better reflect the cross-section of voters, and reverse the province's trend of massive majorities.

This year's election campaign has been described by many as a dull affair -- at least until the leaders' debate at the campaign mid-point.

Put on the defensive during that televised exchange, Campbell shifted his campaign strategy to include more negative attacks on the NDP and their recent track record in government.

The forum also served to show the relatively unknown James as credible competition, and bolstered Carr's campaign to draw winning support from young voters in Vancouver and the Sunshine Coast.

Pollsters show Campbell headed for another victory, but concede the record majority he claimed in the last vote won't likely be replicated.

With files from CTV Vancouver and The Canadian Press