Knock, knock — have you voted?

Brigham Young University political science professor Kelly Patterson says early voting is changing campaigns in other ways, too. For example, early voting means "that the last-weekend negative ad won't have the effect it would have had years ago. The last-minute attack becomes the last three-weeks attack, unfortunately."

Both parties have "poll watchers" in key precincts on Election Day. Several times during the day, they will send lists of who has voted and who has not back to party or campaign officials. Those names are given to volunteers to call or visit.

Taylor said Democrats will use both "real-person" and automated calls on Election Day. He said Democrats like to send people to personally knock on doors on Election Day then.

Dunn said the Republican Party sends no one to doors on Election Day, figuring they can cover more ground with phone calls. She said the state party itself does not use "robocalls" on Election Day, saying those from real people are more effective.

The state parties are not the only groups working on get-out-the-vote drives. Many candidates do their own, along with "honk-and-waves" and walking neighborhoods. Labor unions and interest groups also often target supporters.

The Young Democrats of Utah, for example, targeted four legislative districts, identified 4,000 voters there under age 35, and made 3,000 calls to them plus many "knock and talk" visits.

"Voters in this age group (18-34) don't respond well to the old political ways of conducting campaigns. ... They've been exposed to manipulative advertising their entire lives and see it for what it is," said Justin Daniels, executive director of Young Democrats of Utah. "The only way to impact young voters is one-on-one contact by their peers."

With all those efforts and excitement from the presidential race, leaders in both parties foresee a huge turnout this year. How high will it be? Dunn said, "It's hard to put a number on it ... but my guess would be 60 to 70 percent of registered voters." Taylor is even more optimistic, "I expect it to be 70 to 80 percent."

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Contributing: Arthur Raymond and Bob Bernick Jr.

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E-mail: lee@desnews.com