Every four years, Kentuckians who are registered with both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are accustomed to voting in their party’s presidential primary election in May. By this point in the process, most other states have held their primary elections or caucuses and a pretty clear winner has emerged from each party, causing Kentucky voters to just follow the trend and choose the popular candidate. This year, the Republican Party of Kentucky decided to do things a little differently.

The Republican Party of Kentucky held a Presidential Caucus, the first ever Kentucky caucus, on Saturday, March 5. Polls were open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. local time, with designated polling locations in each county. Unlike caucuses in some other states, the Kentucky Republican Caucus closely resembled a regular primary, with voters showing up and casting their vote by ballot. In states such as Iowa, the caucusing requires individuals to stand in designated areas of the room to represent which candidate they are supporting. While the caucus was similar to the normal primary, it differed in that it allowed electioneering within the polling locations (normally, electioneering is prohibited within 100 feet of polls). Each candidate was allowed two volunteers within the polling sites to hand out information, answer questions, and monitor the voting process.

So, what exactly is up with this switch? Why did the Republican Party of Kentucky decide to make the change from the May primary to this March caucus?

There were two big factors that prompted this switch. The first was Senator Rand Paul. Senator Paul decided to seek the Republican nomination for president in the same year that he would be running for reelection to the United States Senate. As it currently stands, Kentucky law prohibits a candidate from running for two different offices during one election. If the Republican Party had kept the presidential primary in May, Senator Paul wouldn’t have been allowed to put his name on the ballot for both president and senator. Back in 2015, Paul turned to the central committee of the Republican Party of Kentucky with his idea to make this change. Fortunately for him, he succeeded in securing the necessary two-thirds support from the committee to switch to the caucus. While some view this change as sneaky on the Senator’s part, as it benefited him and both of his campaigns, he enacted this change through the proper channels and agreed to pay $250,000 to help cover the cost of the caucus.

The other major factor in this switch is what it will do for Kentucky and its public image. Moving the vote from May to early March will help Kentucky stand out in this tight race and it will help the state play a deciding factor in which candidate ultimately pulls ahead as the frontrunner and receives the Republican party nomination. Kentucky has 46 Republican delegates, who will be divided up proportionally among the candidates in accordance with the percentage of votes that were received. Although several candidates have already dropped out of the race, there is no clear winner at this stage and every vote—every delegate—matters.

The results of the caucus started coming in Saturday evening and Donald Trump was soon declared the winner with 35.9 percent of the vote. He was awarded 16 delegates. In a close second was Ted Cruz with 31.6 percent of the vote and 14 delegates. Marco Rubio and John Kasich followed in third and fourth place, respectively.

An important side note for all Kentucky Republican voters to keep in mind is that they will still have the chance to vote again in May during the primary election. This caucus was only for the Presidential election, not for the House, Senate, or state officials. Anyone who voted on March 5^th is still allowed to vote in the May 17^th primary. Conversely, anyone who forgot to vote in this caucus is also allowed to vote in the primary.