Marianna Brady
BBC News

Over the day, we’ve been introducing you to young Democrats voting in Super Tuesday states.

You've already met Peyton Forte from North Carolina - now, meet Rolando Cantu, 20, from Texas.

What’s at stake in this election?

Groups that have been harmed the most by President Trump's policies such as Latinos in Texas have the most stake in this election. During the Trump administration hate crimes have increased against Latinos and many of his disastrous immigration policies have let many undocumented and DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] recipients worried about their futures. I believe that the immigrant community and Latinos have the most at stake in this election.

Do you know who you are voting for? If not, what will decide your vote?

I will be voting for Senator Bernie Sanders. Personally, I believe in his Medicare for All programme and student loan forgiveness plan.

What should someone outside the US know about your state that makes it unique?

Texas is becoming a more diverse state in terms of its racial and ethnic population. By 2022 Latinos are projected to make up the largest ethnic group in Texas. I feel that with Senator Sanders's strong support with Latinos he can carry a significant advantage in the state.

This is a big one. In 15 minutes, polls will be closing in Texas - the second biggest state tonight with 228 pledged delegates, as well as Colorado (67 pledged delegates) and Minnesota (75 pledged delegates).

Texas has 5.6 million eligible Latino voters - nearly 40% of its population is Hispanic. We went there to find out why their vote is important and what they're looking for in a Democratic candidate.

Nick Bryant
BBC News, Palm Beach, Florida

I don't think money buys you political love - and money doesn't buy you a great debate performance as Mike Bloomberg has seen.

He qualified for a Democratic debate but on stage he was nothing like the way he appeared in those polished advertisements that he carpet-bombed the country with.

If you've been in Virginia the last few weeks, as I have, when you turned on the TV you would think you're watching the Mike Bloomberg channel.

But when people saw him ripped apart by the other candidates - especially Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren - they saw a very different Mike Bloomberg, and he hasn't really recovered from that.

There's no clear winner in the state of Arkansas - it's a toss-up between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, according to an exit poll from the BBC's US partner CBS.

The state, nicknamed "The Natural State", has 31 pledged delegates.

Michael Bloomberg is projected to win a portion of American Samoa's six delegates having won nearly 50% of the vote in the US territory.

Tulsi Gabbard is behind him, with 29% of the vote, winning her first delegate.

The BBC's Nick Bryant, who is with Bloomberg at his rally in Florida, says that's a bit like losing every big dollar bet in a Vegas casino all night and then winning a couple of dollars on the slots on the way out.

Jane O'Brien
BBC News, Burlington, Vermont

Image source, Getty Images

They're really nervous. They're very nervous about the momentum that Joe Biden seems to have so far.

But they're saying watch out, because its going to be a long night. And California may be the big test to see how well Bernie Sanders can continue doing.

They say Bernie has far better grassroots campaigners across the country compared to Biden. Joe Biden doesn't have much money but Bernie does.

So they're hoping that that groundwork, that infrastructure, will be there to help Sanders get across that finishing line.

Sophie Long
BBC News, Los Angeles, California

I'm waiting outside a Biden campaign event, where supporters tell me that his early wins tonight are being called "Joe-mentum", alluding to his gathering momentum tonight.

It's not a bad start for a man some political pundits were ready to write off two weeks ago.

Joe Biden did of course have a very bad start to this primary season. A poor showing in Iowa and New Hampshire, a flicker of life in Nevada and finally that resounding win in South Carolina at just the right time.

His campaign seems to be very much alive and kicking, and I imagine he'll be stepping on that stage with a spring in his step tonight.

We mentioned earlier that Joe Biden is projected to win Virginia - now we can give you more details on the result.

With 63% of votes counted, Biden has 54% of the vote - giving him a commanding lead in the state ahead of his rivals Bernie Sanders (24%), Elizabeth Warren (10%), and Michael Bloomberg (9%).

Biden is estimated to win 55 delegates there, and Sanders 17.

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America reporter

As polls start closing in Super Tuesday states across the eastern half of the United States, the early returns are extremely encouraging for Joe Biden. He’s projected to win North Carolina, Virginia and Alabama - and is on track to surpass the latest polling there, which showed him surging to a lead after his South Carolina win on Saturday.

And while Bernie Sanders won his home state of Vermont, Biden is currently outperforming Hillary Clinton’s results there in 2016.

While the evidence so far points to a showing on the higher end of expectations for Biden, it's still quite possible that Sanders could end up ahead once the Super Tuesday dust settles.

Both Texas and California have yet to begin reporting their results, and those states have more young and Hispanic voters, who have tended to support the Vermont senator. The advantages Biden has shown in states so far will be less important there.

It isn’t too early to say this is looking like a rough evening for Michael Bloomberg, however. He was counting on doing well in the states that Biden is putting in the win column.

With almost two-thirds reporting in Virginia, he’s a distant fourth - and will land few, if any, delegates. If this is typical of the results he’ll post elsewhere, his campaign could be effectively over on its first day before voters.

Polls have closed in four more states - but it's not clear who has won in most, according to exit polls from the BBC's US partner CBS News.

• Alabama (52 pledged delegates) - Joe Biden projected to win
• Maine (24 pledged delegates) - toss-up between Biden and Sanders
• Massachusetts (91 pledged delegates) - toss-up between Sanders, Biden, and Elizabeth Warren
• Oklahoma (37 pledged delegates) - toss-up between Biden and Sanders

Bear in mind - just because a candidate is projected to win a state, doesn't mean they'll win all of the delegates. We'll find out the proportion that each candidate wins later on.

Image source, Reuters

Polls close in five states in five minutes at 20:00 EST (01:00 GMT) - Alabama, Maine, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, and Tennessee* - so get ready for a whole lot of exit polls.

The states have a combined 268 pledged delegates - and Massachusetts, which is home for Senator Elizabeth Warren, is the biggest of the lot, with 91.

*apart from sites affected by Monday's tornado in Nashville, where voting hours have been extended by different lengths

This is all part of the primary process to figure out who the Democratic nominee for president will be. That person will be crowned - along with their vice-presidential running mate - at the party's convention in July.

But we should have a pretty good idea before then as to who it might be.

The state's delegates are distributed to each candidate according to how well they have done. (These delegates are technically the ones casting the votes for that nominee at the summer convention.) Candidates need 1,991 delegates to win the nomination.

Before today, only 155 delegates had been awarded in four states. When all the results are in from the 14 states voting today, a massive 1,357 delegates will have been distributed - even though we may not know who gets what immediately.

Want to know more? Check out our US election guide.

Tara McKelvey
BBC News, Washington DC

Image source, AFP

Who does Trump want to run against? That’s what I’ve been wondering on Super Tuesday, and this afternoon I got a chance to ask him. As a member of the White House press pool, I followed him while he toured the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, and spoke with scientists about their research into coronavirus.

A self-described germaphobe, Trump nevertheless seemed relaxed in the scientific environment and in a laboratory. Before entering the lab, he was open to chatting about politics. He spoke almost wistfully about Bernie Sanders, saying he wondered if it was OK to try and stop his nomination. “I think they’re trying to take it away from him,” he says. “I don’t know if that’s fair.”

Trump says he’s watched Joe Biden “come up a little bit” but believes anyone would be fine: “We’ll take ‘em all.” My takeaway: he’s just as obsessed with Super Tuesday as everybody else here, and he seems to go back and forth about who he wants to win. “It’s going to be a really interesting evening,” he says. “I will be watching.”

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America reporter

With both Virginia and North Carolina being called quickly for Joe Biden, there’s now tangible evidence that the former vice-president’s surge that started in South Carolina on Saturday has legs.

Exit polls indicate he benefited from strong support from black voters and those who decided in the past few days. Biden was outspent heavily in both states by Michael Bloomberg, which suggests that the New York mayor could be in for a long night.

In campaign politics, momentum is more powerful than money.

Joe Biden has just been interviewed on his way into Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles in Los Angeles with the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Asked about his earlier win in Virginia, he says:

"Feels good, I don't know what the actual results are but it feels good and we're optimistic.

"We're going to do well in some other states as well."

Former Vice-President Joe Biden is projected to win North Carolina, according to an exit poll by the BBC's US partner CBS News. 110 delegates are to be shared out there.

Mr Biden is popular with African-American voters - who make up 22% of the state's population.

It's still early in the night - but it's shaping up to be a decent one for Mr Biden so far, with projections suggesting he's done best in two of the big states. The two biggest states - Texas (228 pledged delegates) and California (415 pledged delegates) are still to come though.

The next state to watch is North Carolina, where polls will be closing in five minutes.

The state, which is nicknamed "the Tar Heel State", has 110 pledged delegates.

Nearly half the voters in Virginia's Democratic primary made their decision in the last few days - and 52% of them voted for Joe Biden, according to an exit poll by the BBC's US partner CBS.

A majority (51%) of primary voters felt Biden was the best candidate to beat President Trump, while Sanders was far behind with 22%, the exit poll says.

As we await more results, here's a look at how the primary process has played out thus far.

Before Super Tuesday, only four states had voted - Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. Those were won, in order, by: Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders, Sanders again and Joe Biden.

It’s possible to make a few broad conclusions from those four races:

• Sanders has a momentum that will be tough to beat, even if his delegate lead is within the other candidates’ reach
• Biden is emerging as the most likely moderate to challenge Sanders - the moderates have all chipped away at each other’s vote share and made it difficult for any one of them to break out so far
• Elizabeth Warren, despite being seen as one of the early favourites, is struggling despite a recent fundraising boost - her campaign may not last much longer past tonight, depending on how many delegates she's able to win

Tonight, Biden's early win in Virginia could signal a shift in momentum following two rivals - Buttigieg and Klobuchar - dropping out and backing him.

The BBC's US partner CBS News is projecting that Bernie Sanders will win the Vermont primary while Joe Biden will win in Virginia.

The two states aren't equal when it comes to the number of delegates though - Vermont has 16 pledged delegates, while Virginia has 99. The two states award delegates proportionally - so we won't know exactly how many each candidate has won until later on Tuesday.