Six more states began their primaries around 7 a.m. EST (1200 GMT) as voters are casting their ballots in the 24-state Super Tuesday U.S. presidential nomination race.
More and more "early birds" showed up at the polling stations in nine states, some of which are located in school halls and fire stations.
Local media said a record voter turnout is expected.
In an interview with CNN, Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton emphasized her plans to mandate a universal healthcare program and help people avoid housing foreclosure.
Her only rival, Illinois Senator Barack Obama, also seized the last minute to stress the difference between his affordable healthcare program and that of the New York Senator.
"If you haven't made the healthcare insurance affordable, how can you mandate it?" Obama said.
He also reiterated his opposition to establish a permanent military base in Iraq and vowed again to start to pull out troops immediately if he is elected.
Republican Mitt Romney called on the voters via CNN to choose a true conservative candidate, and that his nearest rival, John McCain is not the one.
The biggest primary day in U.S. history will wrap up as the last voting closes in California 17 hours later at 0400 GMT Wednesday, leaving candidates a long day to await the results that could decide their fates on their road to the White House.
With an aim at increasing the influence of their votes, many U.S. states have moved up their primaries to Feb. 5, Super Tuesday, bringing to 24 states and American Samoa the record number of the total battlefields.
On the Democratic side, Obama and Clinton are competing in 22 states and American Samoa.
The Republican candidates -- Arizona Senator McCain, former Massachusetts governor Romney, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and Texas Congressman Ron Paul, will do battle in 21 states.
A total of more than 1,600 Democratic delegates to the national nomination convention and almost 950 Republican delegates will be allocated in what is almost a national primary.
States such as California, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York are expected to play a decisive role in the full-scale race due to their population and the number of delegates to nomination conventions they will award to candidates.
Recent polls showed Obama and Clinton running a neck-and-neck race. On the Republican side, McCain led Romney by a two-digit percentage while Huckabee was in third place.
Democrats abroad started their "Super Tuesday" hours earlier with Illinois Senator Barack Obama winning the first battle in Indonesia.
Out of nearly 100 votes, 75 percent went to Obama, who spent two years of his childhood in the Southeast Asian country.
Democrats living overseas went to polling stations to vote, while others cast their ballots online, with polls open until Feb.12.
Super Tuesday, or National Election Day, commonly refers to the Tuesday in early February or March of a presidential election year, when the largest number of states hold their primaries or caucuses, and elect delegates to a party's national nomination convention.
The Super Tuesday carries great weight because it involves many states from geographically and socially diverse regions of the country, and provides a huge chunk of delegates for the parties' nomination conventions, a key factor for winning the candidacy.
Source: Xinhua
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