No Kings Turns 3,000 Protests Into Early-Voting Events and Trains Poll Watchers

No Kings, the coalition best known for organizing anti-Trump protests, is trying a different tactic on Saturday: getting people to vote. Grassroots groups across the country will hold more than 3,000 "No Kings: Vote Early" marches and other events, which organizers describe as a nonpartisan push for early voting ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

The coalition has staged three nationwide days of protest since the start of President Trump's second term. Organizers say Trump's actions in office resemble those of a monarch rather than an elected head of state. Trump has previously rejected that characterization. "The first three No Kings were designed to send a message," said Ezra Levin, co-founder of Indivisible, one of the main groups in the network. "We're done sending a message."

Levin said the events have two goals. The first is to help produce what he hopes will be the largest early-vote turnout in a midterm in the country's history. The second is to recruit and train volunteers as poll watchers, a response to what he sees as threats to election integrity from the Trump administration. He pointed to the failed SAVE America Act, which would have required voters to show documents such as a passport or birth certificate to register, to concerns that federal immigration officers could be sent to polling places, and to Trump's attempted restrictions on voting by mail.

The events vary widely. In Golden, Colorado, a "Paws to the Polls" march invites people to bring their dogs. Organizers in Everett, Washington, planned a "concert for democracy." In Frisco, Texas, Cammy Dunford, a co-leader of Indivisible Frisco, will wear a red-and-blue cape and hand out superhero capes and masks at a "voting is your superpower" gathering. Early voting in Texas does not begin until Oct. 19, so her group prepared 500 goodie bags containing QR codes that link to voting information.

All of the events share rules, Levin said, including a ban on political endorsements and on inviting current candidates to speak. Dunford said her group already has two people trained as poll monitors and hopes to recruit more on Saturday. Poll monitors are trained by Common Cause, a government watchdog group, to answer voters' questions, and they wear T-shirts so voters can find them at the polls.

In Wyandotte, Michigan, Christy McGillivray, executive director of the nonpartisan group Voters Not Politicians, is scheduled to speak to a No Kings crowd about the history of fighting for democracy in the United States. She said seeing grassroots events organized nationwide is inspiring. "It makes people feel like they're a part of something bigger than themselves," she said. "And that's what democracy is."

The shift from street demonstrations to voter turnout comes as both parties pour resources into the final stretch before Election Day, with Republicans defending a map that has grown more competitive in recent weeks.