Fans of "Dancing With the Stars" know that their votes can mean everything when it comes to saving their favorites from elimination on the ABC series. However, the process they've grown familiar with during the show's usual 10-week run will be slightly altered due to the reduced length four-week season.

The new season, titled "Dancing With the Stars: Athletes," will feature 10 teams competing over a four-week period, versus the usual 11-13 teams which compete over a 10-week period. The season will also not feature competition and elimination episodes, meaning everything will be jam-packed into the few episodes which will air. Because of these changes to the ABC show, the usual voting process is also being slightly altered.

While fans usually vote online on ABC.com or call into specific phone lines which correspond to each couple competing on the show. However, in an Instagram Live video (via Buddy TV), pro Sharna Burgess, who is competing with NFL star Josh Norman this season, revealed that to accommodate the need for double eliminations each night during this new season, there will be some changes.

According to Burgess, voting will be opened at the start of the season premiere episode and will close shortly after the final couple performs. Viewers are able to vote for their favorite couples and those who vote online can change who gets their support throughout the episode if they opt to give their vote to a different team instead.

At the end of the episode, the live votes and judges' scores will be combined, in the same method they have been throughout the series' run, and after all the scores and votes are tallied, the two lowest scoring couples will be eliminated.

Though this is not the first time the show has had live voting, it increases the point of how important live viewing the show will be for fans if they want to keep their favorite couples safe. However, it can also provide some issues.

While the show has always seen some dancers who were less talented but wildly popular make it through to even the finals, while couples with more talent were eliminated, this new system stresses popularity over performance even more, which could give certain teams an unfair advantage over others. In addition, it also favors teams who perform earlier in the night as well, because there will be more time for viewers to cast votes for them, versus whichever team performs last. While performing last doesn't necessarily mean a team will automatically be at risk for elimination no matter how they perform, as they could still receive a large number of votes at the beginning of the episode, it does provide them with a slight disadvantage when the votes based solely on performance are cast.

Overall, it will be interesting to see how this season plays out, as the competition will be intense amongst the all athlete cast, and that spirit will be increased due to the shortened time frame.

"Dancing With the Stars: Athletes" will premiere Monday, April 30 at 8 p.m. EDT on ABC.

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