SACRAMENTO (AP) — Polls are now open in California and polls are predicting a large turnout.

The Field Poll is predicting more than half of California voters will cast ballots by mail for Tuesday’s election.

It would be the first time the number of mail-in ballots overtook the number of precinct ballots in a California general election. Field predicts 51 percent of all ballots for this election will be mail-in.

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The number of vote-by-mail ballots exceeded the number of votes cast in person for the first time during the 2008 non-presidential primary election.

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In its report released Tuesday, Field also estimated that 1 million fewer Californians will vote in this year’s presidential contest than did in 2008.

Field estimated that 70 percent of California’s registered voters, or 12.7 million people, will cast ballots for this election. Turnout was 79.4 percent in the 2008 presidential election

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.