Kansas Democrats encouraged to vote in presidential primary by mail amid pandemic

Kansas Democrats plan to hold their presidential primary as scheduled on May 2, coronavirus pandemic not withstanding, as party officials urge voters to take advantage of a vote-by-mail provision.

Primaries in other states such as Ohio have been delayed, but the Kansas Democratic Party isn’t making any changes right now. Party officials are instead emphasizing that Democrats can begin casting ballots by mail at the end of March.

In Kansas, presidential primaries are administered by the political parties, not state government. That gives Democrats greater flexibility to reschedule in-person voting or make other changes as the pandemic evolves. Hawaii, Alaska and Wyoming are the other states with upcoming party-run primaries.

“Concerning the 2020 Primary, the KDP is already well-positioned due to our vote-by-mail component that will allow voters to cast ballots from the comfort of their own homes,” the state party said in a statement Tuesday.

The party said it is “encouraging all voters to take advantage of the vote-by-mail option” for the primary.

Kansas Democrats will begin voting on March 30 for their nominee to face President Donald Trump in November. The race has effectively come down to former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, with Biden holding the delegate lead.

All registered Democrats will automatically be sent mail-in ballots at the end of March and will have until April 24 to postmark and return them, the party said.

Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat, said he didn’t think the primary should be delayed, given the mail-in ballot option. He predicted most people would vote remotely.

“That’s up to the Democratic Party and their officials,” he said of a delay.

“Obviously, they are still constrained by the national party and the national party does have rules about the selection of delegates. So they would be subject to those restrictions,” said Michael McDonald, a political science professor at the University of Florida who focuses on elections.

McDonald said if the state party wants to make changes to the primary that are reasonable, the national party would likely allow that to happen. He also noted that ultimately the primary is about picking delegates to the national Democratic convention this summer and that the party could choose to seat delegates even if party rules were technically broken.

A spokesman for the Democratic National Committee provided an email Tuesday from Tom Perez, the national party chairman, sent to state party officials last week. Perez suggested the DNC will give state parties greater leeway in changing how they hold primaries.

“We know the situation is very different in every state and do want to give state parties flexibility to change their plan to address the guidance you are getting on the ground. Ultimately, the health and safety of the voters is the number one priority,” Perez wrote.

The emphasis on mail-in voting could alter the makeup of the Democratic electorate.

Even before the coronavirus, the Kansas Democratic presidential primary was already set to be unusual. Democrats are using ranked-choice voting for the first time.

Under ranked choice, voters list their top five choices. If a candidate receives less than 15 percent of all first-choice votes, votes are reallocated to the next preferred viable candidate until all candidates remaining receive at least 15 percent.

Just a few weeks ago, it looked like the decision to use ranked-choice could prove fateful because several candidates were still competing for the nomination. It’s likely to matter less now that the race is effectively down to Biden and Sanders.

The former vice president now holds a sizeable, but not insurmountable, lead over Sanders.

A poll conducted earlier this month by Public Policy Polling found Biden beating Sanders in Kansas, 59 percent to 35 percent. The poll, of 550 likely Democratic primary voters, had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percent.

Kansas Democrats were rewarded for holding their primary in May, late in the cycle. The decision helped give the state a 20 percent bonus in the number of delegates to the national convention. Kansas will now be able to send 47 instead of 39.

McClatchy DC’s Bryan Lowry and The Star’s Nicole Asbury contributed reporting

This story was originally published March 18, 2020 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Kansas Democrats encouraged to vote in presidential primary by mail amid pandemic."