If no one shows up at the convention with 1,237 delegates, it means the nominee won’t be chosen on the first ballot among the delegates. That means there will be a second and possibly subsequent ballots.

And that’s when it starts to matter who Missouri has sent to Cleveland as delegates.

Here’s how it works:

Missouri sends 52 delegates to the convention. Based on the March 15 primary results, Trump will get the votes of 37 of those delegates on the first ballot, and Cruz will get the votes of 15 of them.

The delegates themselves — the people who will physically go to Cleveland and actually decide on a GOP presidential nominee — haven’t been chosen yet. That will happen in meetings all over Missouri, in a multistep process that starts with local caucuses Saturday.

No matter who the chosen delegates personally support as the presidential nominee, they have to vote for the candidate to whom they are “bound” on the first ballot — meaning, 37 votes for Trump and 15 for Cruz.

Normally, that’s the end of it — which is why, for purposes of choosing a presidential nominee, the actual identity of the delegates doesn’t usually matter.