FRANKFORT, Ky (AP) — Kentucky’s eight presidential electors cast their votes for President Donald Trump on Monday afternoon, formalizing his overwhelming victory in the Bluegrass state.

The hourlong ceremony was held in the Kentucky Capitol's Senate chambers instead of the Kentucky Supreme Court to accommodate social distancing guidelines amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of those present wore masks.

Trump won the state with roughly 62% of the vote in November as the Kentucky GOP widened its super majority in the Kentucky General Assembly by knocking off Democratic incumbents who had defeated Republican candidates in 2018.

Following the vote, Kentucky Secretary of State Michael Adams, a Republican, formally signed off on the ballots and announced the unanimous results.

In remarks before the vote, he praised the Electoral College system and pledged to introduce legislation “making it easier to vote" but “harder to cheat.”

“There is nothing liberal or conservative about helping people vote," he said. “We have to demystify our election process, make it transparent, so voters can see the checks and balances we have that ensure fair elections.”

The ceremony was a sharp departure from the event of four years ago, when several dozen protesters gathered in frigid weather on the steps of the Capitol building, urging the state's electors to vote against then President-elect Donald Trump.

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Hudspeth Blackburn is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.