CHICAGO | The Cook County Board of Elections said the second highest number of suburban voters in history cast ballots during this year's general election.

Cook County Clerk David Orr announced Wednesday that with 100 percent of precincts reporting, turnout reached more than 1 million voters. The only presidential election with more voters was in 1992.

Overall, turnout was 72 percent, which Orr said fell short of projections. He said the number may change because 10,000 absentee ballots haven't been returned. Absentee ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 3, but can be received until Nov. 18. Also, more than 9,000 provisional ballots must be reviewed, which could change the final total.

Preliminary numbers were 1,035,014 votes cast on Tuesday and during early voting. That figure is second only to the 1,062,603 votes cast in the 1992 election.

By law, the clerk's office has until Nov. 25 to certify the county's results to the Illinois State Board of Elections.

The Associated Press reports there were nearly 5.2 million votes cast statewide in the presidential race, which saw U.S. Sen. Barack Obama take his home state's 21 electoral votes.