2020 Kansas Democratic presidential primary

The 2020 Kansas Democratic presidential primary occurred on Saturday, May 2, 2020; this was the sole contest scheduled on that date in the Democratic Party presidential primaries for the 2020 presidential election. The Kansas primary is a closed party-run primary. The state awards 47 delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 41 are pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the primary.[1] Voters cast ranked choice voting ballots, with a voter's ballot counting for a backup ranked choice if their first choice was in last place and below the 15 percent threshold for winning delegates. Joe Biden won the primary, taking 76.8% of the vote after the distribution of preferences compared to Bernie Sanders 23.2%.

2020 Kansas Democratic presidential primary

May 2, 2020
47 Democratic National Convention delegates (41 pledged, 6 unpledged) The number of pledged delegates won is determined by the popular vote
Candidate Joe Biden Bernie Sanders Home state Delaware Vermont Delegate count 29 10 Popular vote 110,041 33,142 Percentage 76.85% 23.15%
Election results by county   Joe Biden

Procedure

Kansas was the sole state in the Democratic primaries with in-person voting set for May 2.[2] Because of the coronavirus pandemic, however, in person voting was cancelled and only mail-in voting was utilized. Mail-in voting took place between March 30 and April 24, with ballots mailed to every registed Democrat in the state by April 4.[3] For the first time since 1992,[4] Kansas Democrats did not use a caucus to apportion delegates. Instead, the Kansas Democratic Party used a party-run primary with ranked-choice voting.[5] Kansans were able to utilize same-day voter registration for in-person voting and vote using a ranked-choice ballot for both mail-in and in-person voting.

On March 30, registered Democrats received mail-in ballots to vote in the election. The postmark deadline to return completed mail-in ballots was April 24. Election results were released the next day, April 25.[6]

In the closed party-run primary, voters ranked their top five candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination. Among candidates who did not receive a minimum 15% of all first-choice votes, the candidate with the fewest first-choices was eliminated. Voters who chose this candidate as their top choice had their votes given to their next choice. If after redistribution there were still candidates with fewer than 15% of the vote, the process repeated, round by round, until all candidates remaining have reached at least 15% of the vote. Candidates earned their proportional share of delegates, based on the percentage that each candidate received in the final round of the total tally.

The 41 pledged delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention will be allocated proportionally on the basis of the results of the primary. Of the 41 pledged delegates, between four and seven are allocated to each of the state's four congressional districts and another four are allocated to party leaders and elected officials (PLEO delegates), in addition to seven at-large pledged delegates. These delegate totals do not account for pledged delegate bonuses or penalties from timing or clustering.[7]

Because the primary was completed after May 1,[8] the Democratic National Committee awarded Kansas a 20 percent bonus in delegates for a total of 47 delegates instead of the original 39. The Kansas Democratic Party announced on December 9, 2019, that the Democratic National Committee had declared Kansas' Delegate Selection Plan to be in full compliance.[9]

Senate district conventions will meet on Saturday, May 9, to nominate delegates for subsequent congressional district conventions on Saturday, May 16, where the district-level national convention delegates will be designated. The state convention will subsequently be held on Saturday, June 6, to vote on the seven pledged at-large and four PLEO delegates to send to the Democratic National Convention. The 41 pledged delegates Kansas sends to the national convention will be joined by six unpledged PLEO delegates (four members of the Democratic National Committee; a sole U.S. representative in Sharice Davids; and the governor, Laura Kelly).[7]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[lower-alpha 1]	Margin of error	Joe Biden	Tulsi Gabbard	Bernie Sanders	Other	Undecided
	Apr 8, 2020	Sanders suspends campaign
	Mar 19, 2020	Gabbard withdraws from the race
Public Policy Polling	Mar 10–11, 2020	550 (LV)	–	59%	3%	35%	–	4%

Results

2020 Kansas Democratic presidential primary[10][11]

Candidate	Votes	%	Delegates
Joe Biden	110,041	76.85%	29
Bernie Sanders (suspended)	33,142	23.15%	10
Total	143,183	100%	39

Vote count by round[11]

Candidate	Round 1		Round 2		Round 3		Round 4
	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
Joe Biden	102,829	70.0%	103,165	70.4%	103,922	72.3%	110,041	76.9%
Bernie Sanders (suspended)	26,555	18.1%	26,907	18.3%	27,320	19.0%	33,142	23.1%
Elizabeth Warren (suspended)	11,518	7.8%	11,934	8.1%	12,434	8.7%	Eliminated
Uncommitted	4,367	3.0%	4,636	3.2%	Eliminated
Tulsi Gabbard (suspended)	1,604	1.1%	Eliminated
Total	146,873	100%	146,642		143,676		143,183	97.5%

Inactive votes in final round: 3,690 (2.5%)

Notes

1. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear

See also

• 2020 Kansas elections

References

1. "DNC Approves 2020 Kansas Delegate Selection Plan". Kansas Democratic Party. 2019-12-09. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
2. Putnam, Josh. "The 2020 Presidential Primary Calendar". Frontloading HQ. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
3. "2020 Kansas Democratic Presidential Primary". Kansas Democratic Party. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
4. "Kansas Democrats are planning ranked-choice voting for presidential primary". PBS NewsHour. 2019-06-11. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
5. "Kansas Delegate Selection Plan for the 2020 Democratic National Convention" (PDF). Kansas Democratic Party. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-12-09. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
6. Levy, Adam (May 3, 2020). "Joe Biden wins Kansas Democratic primary". CNN. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
7. "Kansas Democratic Delegation 2020". The Green Papers. June 11, 2019. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
8. Putnam, Josh (2019-05-02). "Kansas Democrats Settle on May Party-Run Primary". Frontloading HQ. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
9. "DNC Approves 2020 Kansas Delegate Selection Plan". Kansas Democratic Party. 2019-12-09. Retrieved 2019-12-09.
10. "View Kansas' 2020 primary results". www.cnn.com. CNN. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
11. "KSDEMS: 2020 Primary Results.xlsx". Google Docs. Kansas Democratic Party. Retrieved May 3, 2020.

External links

• The Green Papers delegate allocation summary
• Kansas Democratic Party draft delegate selection plan