Nevada Republicans can’t decide between a primary or a caucus - so they’re doing both

After Donald Trump stormed the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary in January, blowing away his nearest challengers for the Republican presidential nomination, all eyes now turn to Nevada.

The race to be the GOP’s candidate is now a two-way chase following the exits of Chris Christie, Vivek Ramaswamy, Asa Hutchinson and Ron DeSantis, leaving Nikki Haley the only survivor.

She has it all to do if she is to weaken Mr Trump’s stranglehold over their party after a strong showing in the Granite State that nevertheless left her a distant second.

Ms Haley and Mr Trump next find themselves heading west and thrust into one of the most bizarre electoral systems in the 50 states, where two competing nominating contests are being held.

Because why choose between a primary and a caucus when you could just have both and confuse everybody?

Here’s a quick guide for the baffled.

What’s happening?

Whereas Iowa operates a traditional caucus system for choosing its presidential candidates and delegates, requiring voters to show up in person to party meetings at which they signal their preferences, New Hampshire opts for the more modern primary model in which voters cast ballots much as they do in a November presidential election.

This year, Nevada is playing with fire by staging both state-run Republican and Democratic primaries and a separate party-run GOP caucus, effectively giving registered conservative voters two opportunities to pick their preferred candidates for the Republican nomination.

The state-run primaries are scheduled for Tuesday 6 February while the Nevada Republican Party’s caucus will follow two days later on Thursday 8 February.

Significantly, the caucus requires entrants to pay a $55,000 fee to participate (or