KANSAS DELEGATE SELECTION PLAN FOR THE 2020 DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ISSUED BY THE KANSAS DEMOCRATIC PARTY ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ (AS OF WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2020) ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ The Kansas Delegate Selection Plan For the 2020 Democratic National Convention Introduction & Description of Delegate Selection Process 2 A. Introduction 2 B. Description of Delegate Selection Process 3 C. Voter Participation 5 Presidential Candidates 11 A. Ballot Access 11 B. Other Requirements 11 Selection of Delegates and Alternates 11 A. District-Level Delegates 11 B. Automatic Delegates 20 C. Pledged Party Leader and Elected Official (PLEO) Delegates 21 D. At-Large Delegates and Alternates 23 E. Replacement of Delegates and Alternates 25 Selection of Convention Standing Committee Members 28 A. Introduction 28 B. Temporary Standing Committee Members 28 C. Standing Committee Members 29 Delegation Chair and Convention Pages 31 A. Introduction 31 B. Delegation Chair 32 C. Convention Pages 32 Presidential Electors 32 A. Introduction 32 B. Selection of Presidential Electors 32 C. Affirmation 33 General Provisions and Procedural Guarantees 33 Affirmative Action Plan and Outreach and Inclusion Program 36 A. Statement of Purpose and Organization 36 B. Representation Goals 38 C. Efforts to Educate on the Delegate Selection Process 38 D. Efforts to Publicize the Delegate Selection Process 40 E. Obligations of Presidential Candidates to Maximize Participation 41 F. Outreach and Inclusion Program 41 Challenges 42 A. Jurisdiction & Standing 42 B. Challenges to the Status of the State Party and Challenges to the Plan 43 C. Challenges to Implementation 43 Summary of Plan 44 A. Selection of Delegates and Alternates 44 B. Selection of Standing and Temporary Committee Members (For the Credentials, Platform and Rules Committees) 45 C. Selection of Delegation Chair and Convention Pages 46 D. Selection of Presidential Electors 46 E. Presidential Candidate Filing Deadline 46 F. Timetable 46 Attachments 48 1 Kansas Delegate Selection Plan For the 2020 Democratic National Convention Section I Introduction & Description of Delegate Selection Process A. Introduction 1. Kansas has a total of 45 delegates (including 6 bonus delegates) and 3 alternates. (Call I & Appendix B) 2. The delegate selection process is governed by the Charter and Bylaws of the ​ Democratic Party of the United States, the Delegate Selection Rules for the 2020 ​ ​ Democratic National Convention (“Rules”), the Call for the 2020 Democratic National ​ ​ Convention (“Call”), the Regulations of the Rules and Bylaws Committee for the 2020 ​ ​ Democratic National Convention (“Regs.”), the rules of the Democratic Party of ​ State, the State election code, and this Delegate Selection Plan. (Call II.A) ​ 3. Following the State Party Committee’s adoption of this Delegate Selection Plan, the State Party shall submit the Plan for review and approval by the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee (“RBC”). The State Party Chair shall be empowered to make any technical revisions to this document as required by the RBC to correct any omissions and/or deficiencies as found by the RBC to ensure its full compliance with Party Rules. Such corrections shall be made by the State Party Chair and the Plan resubmitted to the RBC within 30 days of receipt of notice of the RBC’s findings. (Reg. 2.5, Reg. 2.6 & Reg. 2.7) 4. Once this Plan has been found in Compliance by the RBC, any amendment to the Plan by the State Party must be submitted to and approved by the RBC before it becomes effective. Adherence to this plan will help us safeguard against post-election audits (Reg. 2.9) ​ B. Description of Delegate Selection Process 1. Kansas will use a proportional representation system based on the results of a Party-Run Primary for apportioning delegates to the 2020 Democratic National ​ ​ Convention. 2. The “first determining step” of Kansas’s delegate selection process will occur on May ​ ​ 2, 2020, with a Party-Run Primary. Kansas selected this date to qualify to receive additional (“bonus”) delegates of 20% of its base number of delegate votes. Prior to the May 2, 2020, Party-Run Primary, the Kansas Democratic Party will mail to every registered Democrat on March 9, 2020, information explaining how a voter may cast 2 a ballot in the 2020 Party-Run process. The same information will be made available via the state party website, Facebook page, and via email beginning March 9, 2020. The KDP anticipates a large increase in participation from caucuses in 2008 and 2016 when participation was limited to those who could appear in person. Instead, dependent on fundraising, on March 30, 2020 the KDP plans to send paper ballots with prepaid postage to every registered active Democratic voter in Kansas, which is approximately 400,000 voters. Any voter registering as a Democrat after March 30, 2020 and before April 23, 2020 may request a paper ballot in person at the KDP headquarters. Mail-in ballots must be postmarked by Friday, April 24, 2020. There will be at least one voting center in each Senate District on primary day, May 2, 2020, where people can drop off their paper ballot in person or register to vote and cast a paper ballot. Mail-in ballots will be returned to the Kansas Democratic Party Headquarters and sorted by Kansas Senate District. Ballot boxes will be locked and stored in a secure location at the Headquarters. State Party Headquarters Information: Kansas Democratic Party Mailing Address: P.O. Box 1914 Topeka, KS 66601 ​ Office Address: 501 SE Jefferson St #30, Topeka, KS 66607 ​ Phone: (785) 234-0425 ​ Email: [email protected] ​ Since the Kansas Party Run Primary will hold in-person voting on May 2, 2020, which is a Saturday, KDP leadership will reach out to religious organizations, in particular the Jewish community, to determine any special accommodations necessary for their organizations. Mailing ballots to all active registered Democrats may provide a remedy to this. Kansas will employ Ranked Choice Voting on all ballots. Ranked choice voting (RCV) ballots give voters the option to rank candidates in order of choice or to vote for just one. Rather than being limited to a single choice, voters can indicate a first choice, second choice, and so on. The number of rankings provided would not be based on a formula, but based on whether the vendor could provide a ballot with five rankings or some fewer number that would be at least three rankings. The process as follows will ensure that as many ballots as possible will count toward candidates who ultimately receive the viability threshold of at least 15% of the vote in each of Kansas’ congressional districts. 1) Determine if all candidates have at least 15% of the vote (that is, 15% of first choices) in a congressional district. If so, the tally is complete. 2) If not, remove the last-place candidate from consideration and make that candidate “inactive.” Re-allocate that candidate’s votes to the active candidate who is ranked next on each ballot. ​ ​ 3) Continue this process of making last-place candidates inactive and re-allocating votes to active candidates until all active candidates have at least15% of the votes in the final round of the tally. 3 4) Allocate delegates by proportional representation based on percentages of the vote cast for candidates who have met the viability threshold in the final round of the tally. Since Ranked Choice Voting may be unfamiliar to many voters in Kansas, an extensive education program will be implemented to teach voters about the process and answer questions about completion of the ballot. In addition, FairVote, a nonpartisan voter education organization that supports ranked choice voting, will carry out a nonpartisan voter education outreach effort in Kansas that will include literature, online education resources, and grants to local organizations that work with constituency organizations in Kansas. FairVote has conducted similar programs in cities like Oakland (CA), San Francisco (CA) and Santa Fe (NM) and has a contract with a Santa Fe-based community organizer who has run voter education programs on ranked choice voting in two New Mexico cities and has experience in best practices to ensure ranked choice voting is implemented equitably and well for all voters. Using best practices, the KDP will conduct training of all volunteers, staff and contractors who will be able to provide assistance and answer questions at in-person voting sites on the day of the party-run presidential primary. Also, a simple “how to vote” handout will be available for voters, similar to what was sent to voters with their mail-in ballot. Specifics regarding the ballot design will be finalized in coordination with the KDP’s selected vendor, but the expectation is to have a ballot consistent with what is being used in most cities with ranked choice voting: a “grid ballot”. Again, all votes will be cast on paper ballots and no voter will receive a paper record of their vote. The KDP has been consulting with county election officials to process mailed ballots and expects to have all ballots (both those arriving by mail and dropped off on primary day) to be scanned at a central location. The optical scanning ballots will create “cast vote records” that will be run through federally tested software ready to tally RCV ballots according to defined rules, with a separate tally for voters in each congressional district. Following the practice of many RCV jurisdictions, the cast vote record files will be posted on the KDP website along with the official tally. Ballots will be maintained such that a recount can be conducted. Also, the KDP plans to showcase best practices for a “post-election audit” of the tally with the support of the nonpartisan organization Vote at Home. There are two ways a recount can be triggered.