By I-Hsien Sherwood | i.sherwood@latinospost.com (staff@latinospost.com) | First Posted: Nov 14, 2012 08:14 AM EST

Many votes from last week's presidential election are still being counted.

While the outcome isn't in dispute in any state, many provisional and absentee ballots are still being processed, and plenty of precincts, from small, rural towns to large cities, have yet to officially certify their vote totals.

But it does appear that the overall turnout for this election was lower than in 2008, though that could change once the final numbers are released.

In most swing states, though, turnout was up. In Nevada, Iowa, Colorado, Virginia, Florida, North Carolina and Wisconsin more people voted this year than in 2008.

New Hampshire looks to be about the same, and for now, Ohio and Pennsylvania show lower turnout.

In the rest of the country, though, turnout was down about 9 percent from the last election, likely a consequence of heavy emphasis on the swing states and the effect of the Electoral College.

Voters in non-swing states know their vote doesn't really affect the outcome of the election, so many choose to stay home.

In all, about 122 million votes have been counted this year, compared to a final total of a little over 131 million in 2008. Obama won 50.6 percent of the popular vote to Romney's 48.8 percent, but Obama's margin could grow to more than 3 percent once all the votes are in.

Most of the votes left to count are in large population centers that swing Democratic, like California.

In New York and New Jersey, turnout is down drastically from the last election, though that is likely due to the damage wrought by Hurricane Sandy, which either prevented people from getting to the polls or is preventing those votes from being counted quickly.

Turnout in New Jersey was down over 14 percent, while in New York it was down 19 percent.

It could be weeks before every state has all their ballots counted and the popular vote is official.

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