RNC 2016: Inside Alaska's Decision to Appeal Its Vote

— -- Just as Paul Ryan was ready to confirm Donald Trump had clinched the nomination at the Republican Convention, Alaska stepped in, claiming that all of its votes were incorrectly recorded for Trump.

While a change in the count wouldn't alter the ultimate outcome -- Trump had many more delegates than the required 1,237 -- the state's delegates were insistent on a recount.

Here's a look inside what happened:

What happened with Alaska’s delegates?Alaska has 28 delegates, who were technically bound for 2 rounds of voting were it to come to that. The allocation of these delegates after the primary, according to the ABC News estimate, was 12 for Cruz, 11 for Trump and 5 for Rubio. When the secretary recorded the vote, however, all 28 delegates were announced for Trump. Immediately after that decision was announced, the delegates were outraged, with one shouting "I appeal the decision of the chair."

Why did this happen?According to Alaska GOP party rules, if a presidential candidate “drops out” before the state convention -- March Rubio -- those delegates will be reapportioned among the candidates remaining. If a delegate drops out after the state convention but before the national convention -- Ted Cruz and John Kasich -- the delegates are reapportioned again. At this point Donald Trump was the only candidate remaining, so he would assume the remainder of the delegates.

Disagreement Over the RulesHowever, the delegates from the Alaska delegation interpreted the rule differently. They say they suspended this rule at their state convention and the RNC knew that -- hence their decision to call for delegates to cast their votes individually. The delegation was particularly upset –- some were even in tears -- that the RNC would, in their view, decide to ignore the will of the voters.

“We're a small state, and we had massive turnout. This might not matter to anyone else, but it matters to us,” said one delegate.

But ultimately, the RNC did not decide to include the poll vote. And Alaska's 28 delegates all went for Trump.