It's finally Election Day in South Dakota.

The long presidential primary season officially ends today with the last two primaries in the nation: South Dakota and Montana. That fact alone is reason to celebrate.

But the truly amazing thing about this 2008 primary is the groundbreaking race between two historic candidates: A woman and an African-American. A tightly contested race on the Democratic ballot has made for a very exciting, very competitive South Dakota presidential primary for the first time in recent memory.

The campaigns of Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama have lavished time and energy on South Dakota's primary, bringing attention to largely forgotten places - such as Little Wound on Pine Ridge Reservation or Fort Thompson on Crow Creek Reservation - in the last two weeks. That national media entourage also put Mount Rushmore and Mitchell's Corn Palace in the spotlight when Clinton visited the Shrine of Democracy and Obama held a rally in Mitchell this past week. Even Rapid City's Bear Country USA and Reptile Gardens got mentioned in the New York Times.

Not bad for a state whose presidential primary was expected, just a few short months ago, to be a meaningless tagline to a foregone election outcome.

Even more exciting is the healthy voter turnout that South Dakota election officials are predicting for today's primary, based largely on the high number of absentee ballots that were returned in both Minnehaha and Pennington counties. The auditor's office in Sioux Falls had received about 3,000 absentee ballots and here in Rapid City, more than 3,600 were returned.

We hope it's a huge turnout at the polls today and we encourage everybody who is eligible to vote to do so. And don't forget: Bring your driver's license or other form of photo ID with you when you do.

If you aren't sure where you're registered to vote, or if you want to see a sample ballot customized to your precinct and party affiliation, check out the new voter information portal on the Web site of the South Dakota Secretary of State Office. It's a great new service that is easily accessed at www.sd.sos.gov simply by typing in your name and date of birth. Kudos to Secretary of State Chris Nelson for offering that Web service.

Now, South Dakota voters need to do their part in the election process. So, go to the polls, cast your vote and participate in democracy. It's Election Day. And that's always exciting.