Both sides have pledged to avoid violence. Similar autonomy votes are scheduled in three other provinces in the next few weeks.
Autonomy would allow Santa Cruz and other regions to function somewhat like U.S. states, with separate police forces, legislatures and a say in the distribution of funds such as hydrocarbon royalties that now go to the government in La Paz, the capital. That would be a marked change in highly centralized Bolivia and could dilute the power of Morales and future presidents.
The autonomy movement has taken off in relatively prosperous lowland provinces, where much of the nation's agricultural wealth and vast natural gas reserves are concentrated.
The dispute underscores deep divisions between the subtropical lowlands and the chilly and largely impoverished Andean high plains that constitute Morales' base.
The regional divide has a strong ethnic backdrop: Morales, of Aymara Indian heritage, has championed the cause of fellow indigenous highlanders, long treated as second-class citizens in Bolivia.
But Andean Indians are less prominent in Santa Cruz and other lowland zones, where the population consists of a broad mix of people with indigenous, European and other bloodlines. Each side has accused the other of recklessly dealing the race card.
Morales calls himself a champion of indigenous rights, but critics here say he is fostering a volatile struggle of race and class in South America's poorest nation.
"Evo Morales is setting one group against another," said Arrazola, the pro-autonomy Santa Cruz congressman. "This is a dangerous path for Bolivia."
Supporters say autonomy will bring economic benefits, reducing the continued flow of Bolivians abroad, especially to Europe and Argentina.
"Our enemy is poverty," said Santa Cruz Gov. Ruben Costas. "And we want to try to defeat it."
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patrick.mcdonnell @latimes.com
