Kansas Democrats are planning a primary like Iowa caucuses. What could go wrong?

Democrats suffered a major setback Monday when the party’s Iowa caucuses imploded, leaving candidates and the nation without any results until late Tuesday afternoon.

It’s a clear disaster, and the debacle threatens Iowa’s unique position in the nominating process. After millions of dollars and tens of thousands of hours of labor, the inability to count votes will raise even more questions about the state’s worst-in-the-nation caucuses.

But Iowa isn’t the only state in the spotlight. Democrats in Kansas, it turns out, will be using a similar vote-counting process.

That means Kansas Democrats must redouble their efforts to understand complex voting systems, while being open and transparent to every voter when the balloting is over.

Iowa provides a lesson in what not to do.

To be sure, Kansas Democrats won’t caucus like Iowa. Instead, the party plans a closed presidential primary, including mail-in ballots and in-person voting on May 2.

The party is paying for the primary. As in Iowa, state and local election officials are not involved.

This is not a bad thing. Kansas Democrats are picking their preferred presidential nominee, and the party should pay the bill. They have a better strategy than Kansas Republicans, who canceled their 2020 caucuses out of fear of offending Donald Trump.

But for the first time, Kansas Democrats will use “ranked choice” voting to allocate convention delegates. It can be complicated.

Democrats won’t vote for one candidate. They’ll vote for up to five, in order of preference. Then the party will count the votes, using a complex system to reassign votes for less-popular candidates, who will drop from the field.

Once every remaining candidate has reached a 15% threshold, the reassignment stops and Kansas delegates are awarded.

In principle, we think ranked-choice voting is a good option, particularly in primaries. It ensures no vote is truly wasted. All voices are heard.

But ranked-choice voting requires careful administration so that results are clear to all involved. Careless execution brought disaster in Iowa, which essentially uses a ranked-choice system in a caucus setting.

So, Kansas Democrats must be focused on collecting ballots, counting them the right way and releasing all information as quickly as possible.

With just weeks to go before mail-in ballots are distributed in Kansas, there are reasons for worry. On Monday, the party appointed a Johnson County Community College computer student as its presidential primary coordinator. Here’s hoping he’s a quick study.

More importantly, Kansas — like Iowa — plans to release raw results from voting, as well as delegate results. But the raw totals may be delayed for a day or two, potentially muddying the outcome, just like Iowa. That would be problematic.

One piece of good news: Kansas won’t gather results by app, we’re told. Phone calls and emails will do.

Kansas won’t be Iowa. The stakes are lower, and the presidential field will likely have narrowed by May 2. A paper-ballot primary is not the same thing as a caucus. Results should be made public more quickly.

But Iowa’s train wreck is a cautionary reminder that complex systems are dangerous in the voting booth. Kansas Democrats must learn lessons from Iowa quickly and ensure that their primary results are accurate and are reported in a far more timely manner.

This story was originally published February 4, 2020 at 3:53 PM.