Kansas Democrats turned out in record numbers—by mail—to give Joe Biden a clear primary victory Saturday. The former vice president topped Sen. Bernie Sanders, 76.9% to 23%, the Hutchinson News reports. Under a caucus system in 2016, total turnout was 39,230; 146,873 votes were cast this time, all mail-in ballots. That count represents 34.7% of the state's registered Democrats. "Kansas Democrats made history in this election with record participation levels along with demonstrating how a vote-by-mail election can protect voters and our democracy," the state party's chairwoman said, "even in the most uncertain of times." The primary allocated 39 of the state’s 45 delegates to the national convention, per the AP; the other delegates are Kansas party leaders.
Sanders suspended his campaign after Kansas ballots started going to voters, and he received 10 of the delegates. The Biden and Sanders campaigns decided last week that the senator can keep the delegates he's awarded, though a national rule prohibits it. Kansas hasn't voted Democratic in a presidential race since 1964, but the Biden campaign said it plans to work with other state candidates during the campaign, per the Kansas City Star. "While President Trump continues to botch the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Joe Biden has built a broad coalition in Kansas and across the country—the exact type of coalition that we know it will take to beat the president this fall," the Biden campaign said in a statement. (Ohio gave Biden a primary victory, nearly all through the mail.)