Record suburban voter registration reported in Cook County

More than 1.4 million suburban Cook County residents - a record number for a presidential election - are registered to vote in Tuesday's presidential primary election, Cook County Clerk David Orr said Monday in a news release.

This is the first presidential primary where election day registration is in effect. Also, 17-year-olds can vote in the primary if they will be 18 by the general election on Nov. 8.

Through Sunday, the number of registered voters in suburban Cook County is 3.5 percent higher than 2012 - 1,443,261 voters to 1,394,649.

Through Sunday, early voting has increased to 102,408 from 37,209 in 2012; grace period voting is up to 5,465 from 626 in 2012, and the number of ballots returned by mail is 16,631 compared to 9,667 in 2012. All 2016 numbers are unofficial.