No King Voter Registration Campaign Is A Refocus in Terms of Protests

Now, all No Kings rallies across the nation have a theme of early registration for voting.

No Kings, the coalition that has organized anti-Trump protests, is trying a different democratic tactic: getting people registered to vote.

On Saturday, grassroots organizations across the country will host more than 3,000 “No Kings: Vote Early” marches and other events. Organizers say the events are a nonpartisan effort to promote early voting in the midterm elections and will involve helping people check their voter registration, make a plan to cast their ballot, and understand their voting rights.

The voting initiative is a turn for the No Kings coalition, which includes hundreds of partner organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Black Voters Matter.

No Kings, which has already seen three days of nationwide protesting since the start of Trump’s second term, argues that Trump’s actions in office are more like a monarch than a democratically elected leader. Trump has dismissed the idea that he is behaving like a king.

“The first three No Kings were designed to send a message," says Ezra Levin, co-founder of Indivisible, one of the big organizations in the No Kings network. We’re finished sending a message. Now we want people to vote.

Levin describes two main goals of the event. First, he hopes to make easier what should be the biggest early voting turnout in midterm history. The second goal is to train volunteers to be poll watchers, a response, Levin says, to what he considers threats to election integrity from the Trump administration. He points to the failed SAVE America Act, which would have required voters to show documents such as a passport or birth certificate proving their U.S. citizenship when registering to vote. He is also worried about the possibility of federal immigration officers being sent to the polls and Trump’s attempts to limit mail-in voting.

What do organizers expect across the nation?

Block parties, cookouts and rallies are scheduled to take place across the country on Saturday. Golden, Colorado, is hosting a march called “Paws to the Polls” and is encouraging people to bring their dogs. There’s going to be a “concert for democracy” in Everett, Washington, as well as an environmental troubadour.

There will be similar guidelines for all events—no political endorsements, no current candidates.

Cammy Dunford’s event in Frisco, Texas, will be known for superhero capes and masks. Dunford, a co-leader of Indivisible Frisco, will host a “voting is your superpower” meet-up. She’ll have a red and blue cape representing the political spectrum of voters, and passing out superhero capes and masks.

“I don’t care if you’re an independent, first time voter, Democrat or Republican,” Dunford says. “If you are eligible to vote, you have to go out and vote. If we all don’t vote, we don’t have a democracy.”

Although early voting in Texas does not start until Oct. 19, Dunford and her neighbors have put together 500 mini goodie bags with QR codes that link to voting information and resources. They will also be carrying bright signs with superhero imagery to encourage passing cars to vote.

Her group has two trained poll monitors and plans to recruit more on Saturday, Dunford said. They are trained monitors, trained by Common Cause, a government watchdog group that trains them to respond to voter queries. They will wear T-shirts that will identify them at the polls so voters will be able to find them easily for help.

At an event in Wyandotte, Michigan, Christy McGillivray, the executive director of Voters Not Politicians, a nonpartisan advocacy organization, will speak to the No Kings crowd about the history of fighting for democracy in the U.S. She finds encouragement in the grassroots events being organized across the country.

“People get a sense of being part of something larger than themselves,” she says. “And that is what democracy is. “Democracy is about working together and for each other.”