I am batting only .111 in presidential elections: One for nine.

My first visit to the voter's booth was in 1972, when Richard Nixon crushed my choice, George McGovern. Since then, I have had eight more cracks at a presidential ballot and have bestowed my vote on gadflies (Ross Perot), rebels (Eugene McCarthy -- twice), Democrats (Mondale, Gore and Kerry) and a Republican (John Anderson, an Illinois congressman who ran as an independent in 1980). Only once have I picked the winner: Bill Clinton, in 1996. And I regret that one.

Be careful out there.

Despite my record of failure, I will give it another try today, and go to the polls for a 10th time. Some people may say voting so often with so little result makes me a slow learner. I say it makes me Minnesotan.

Minnesotans have voted for the winner just four times since I first voted (Nixon, Carter and Clinton, twice), but we are the votingest people in America: More people vote here than anywhere else.

Let's do it again today.

Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie is predicting 80 percent of the state's eligible voters -- 3 million people -- will vote today, retaining the state's voting crown and coming close to the highest turnout on state record, 83 percent in 1956. If you check your history books, you will find the 1956 presidential race was a barnburner between two Chrome Domes: Democrat Adlai Stevenson, of Illinois, and Dwight D. Eisenhower, who won a second term (Minnesota, which had 11 electoral votes then, really liked Ike, 53 to 46 percent).

It has been a point of pride for Minnesotans that the North Star State usually turns out the highest percentage of voters, and we like to think it is because we wear long underwear, take saunas, know how to knit and are descended from farmers, Iron Rangers, Lutherans and choral singers. But Ritchie, who was born in Georgia, missed Minnesota Mythology 101. He doesn't think we vote in bigger numbers than other folks because we are better than they. He says we vote more because we try harder to make sure everyone can vote.

"We vote the most because Minnesotans have created the kind of system that allows the most people to vote," he says. "The goal is for people to vote, because it is their constitutional right and, more than a right, it is their responsibility."

Since 1973, Minnesota has allowed same-day registration, allowing citizens with proper ID to register at voting places. The system has worked remarkably well and has been copied, in one form or another, by other states. On election day 2004, almost 600,000 state voters used same-day registration to cast their ballots. Most were already registered but had changed their address since the last election. The rest -- 235,000 -- were new voters. According to Ritchie, more changes are ahead as states adapt to lifestyle changes that make voting difficult for many, such as those who have long commutes and find it hard to get to the polls during voting hours.

One change Ritchie wants is an "early voting" law to allow any voter to request an absentee ballot up to 30 days before an election. At the moment, voters are only allowed to cast absentee ballots if they are ill or disabled, away from home, serving as an election judge in another precinct or observing a religious holiday. Even with those restrictions, Ritchie expects 10 to 12 percent of today's vote to be cast by absentee ballot. That's 50 percent higher than the last election, and an indication that voters want easier ways to vote.

The Legislature passed an "early voting" plan last year, but it was vetoed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty. Chances are it will become law in the near future.

To find out if you are eligible to vote, where to vote, or how to register to vote at the polling place, visit the secretary of state's website at www.sos.state.mn.us/home.

Even if Ritchie is right that it is easy access rather than moral fiber that accounts for our stellar voting record, I cling to the notion that Minnesota voters are more conscientious than voters you find in most other places.

Even Ritchie may be seeing the light: This year, while visiting around the state, he asked voters in areas where a whopping 90-plus percent of eligible voters usually turn out to explain why so many vote.

The answer he got from a young woman on an Indian reservation was identical to the one he got from the president of a Chamber of Commerce:

"If you love a place, you take care of it, and take responsibility for it. That means voting."

So love yourself, Minnesota. Get out there and take care of business. Get out the vote, starting with your own. Your candidate may not be more successful than mine have been. But showing up and making a choice can help Minnesota lead the nation, once again.

That way, we all win.

ncoleman@startribune.com 612-673-4400