NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — For just the third time since 1980, the State of Kansas will hold a Presidential Preference Primary in March.
"Normally, the parties do their own caucus, sort of like what Iowa and New Hampshire is doing and then choose how their delegates are going to be allocated," said Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab. "The clerks and I take a little bit of redemption saying that both the chair of the Democrat Party and the Republican Party, their chairs ran against me in the 2022 election, saying we didn't know how to run elections in Kansas and then they asked us to run one for them."
The Presidential Preference Primary will be March 19. Each Party still has to officially ratify their plan to divide delegates, but the proposal for Republicans to vote on is a winner take all primary, where all 39 delegates would go to the top candidate, the Democrats, if they approve their proposal, would allocate their delegates proportionally to the voting on the March 19 ballot. You do have to register with a party to vote in its primary.
"We'll do what the legislature tells us to do," Schwab said. "They've basically said have the government run it. I'm not a big fan of the government running a party activity but that's basically what this comes to. The reason why it's called a Presidential Preference Primary is because whoever you choose, normally you win the primary, your name is on the ballot, whoever they choose March 19, they may not be on the ballot."
By that Schwab means that the person on the ballot is determined by getting a majority of all the delegates from across the country and Kansas does not, by itself, own such a majority.
"It will feel the same as a regular election," Schwab said. "You'll go out and vote, most likely at the same places you normally do a normal election. There will be early voting, you can vote advance by mail or in person on election day, as well. The deadlines are a little bit shorter than usual. You can go to votekansas.gov to get all the information that you'd need about that. If you have an opportunity to vote, please do so."
If you are affiliated with a party other than the Republicans or Democrats or if you are unaffiliated and you want to change that so you can vote in one of the primaries, the registration is due by Feb. 20.
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