times and the Populist candidate once. From the 2010 to the 2016 elections, Republicans went 32–0 in Kansas's federal and statewide elections. Currently, of the 1.9 million registered voters in Kansas, about 45% registered as members of the Republican Party, about 25% registered as members of the Democratic Party, and about 30% registered as unaffiliated with any political party. Early party history 1854 to 1974 Territorial Kansas (1854–1860) Kansas and the Republican Party owe their mutual existence to the passage of the Kansas–Nebraska Act in 1854, which repealed the Missouri Compromise. The Compromise had outlawed slavery above the 36⁰30' latitude in the Louisiana territories. Eliminating the Missouri Compromise left the question of whether Kansas would be a slave or free state up to the Kansas voters. Anti-slavery and pro-slavery settlers came into Kansas in order to influence the outcome of the first election. The conflict was violent, known to history as Bleeding Kansas. In 1855, the anti-slavery settlers organized themselves as the Free-State political party, which, in 1859, became the Kansas Republican Party. The Kansas Republican Party was organized on May 18, 1859, at a convention held at the Jillson Hotel in Osawatomie, and was attended by Horace Greeley. When the Wyandotte Constitutional Convention met in July 1859, it consisted of 35 Republicans and 17 Democrats. It produced the Wyandotte Constitution, making Kansas a free state and was ratified by the people of Kansas on October 4, 1859. Abraham Lincoln, campaigning to be the new Republican Party's presidential nominee, visited Kansas in November and December 1859, speaking in Elwood, Troy, Atchison, and Leavenworth. Shortly after Lincoln's visit, John A. Martin, Atchison journalist and future governor, noted "We have formed a Republican Constitution, adopted it with Republican votes, sent a Republican delegate to bear it to the National Capital, [and] elected Republican State Officers and a Republican State Legislature." No place, he added, was "as thoroughly Republican" as Kansas. Basic party organization (1859–1908) State Conventions: At the state level the party would hold a state convention in every general election year, and a second convention in presidential election years. The convention was usually in Topeka. The State Convention consisted of delegates, the number determined by a formula. For instance in 1890, there were 564 State Convention Delegates – one delegate at-large from each county and one delegate for every 400 votes or fractional part of 400 cast for Republican presidential electors