The No Kings coalition, which has drawn millions of Americans into the streets to fight for democracy over the past two years, is shifting its strategy this weekend. On Saturday, organizers and partners will hold thousands of events across all 50 states and Washington DC to get people to the polls early for the US midterm elections.
With high-stakes races that will determine control of Congress, organizers say getting out the vote before election day can ease burdens on election workers and build confidence in voters, allowing them to avoid hiccups such as long lines and potential election threats. Organizers hope to not only make Saturday the largest single day of early voting in US history, but also build a volunteer network ready to defend the results of the 3 November midterm elections – should actors choose to undermine election results.
From the streets to the polls
“Saturday will be an anti-election sabotage effort,” said Ezra Levin, co-founder of the progressive group Indivisible, part of the No Kings coalition. “The single best thing you can do to push back against sabotage is to massively increase the vote and do it early.”
No Kings began as a protest movement during Donald Trump’s second presidential term, organizing three days of nationwide protests beginning in the summer of 2025 that brought people out to protest a government shutdown, federal layoffs, immigration enforcement, foreign wars, fatal ICE shootings and military deployments in US cities, among other issues. Organizers said those protests did what they were built to do – show that Americans would not quietly surrender their rights. And now, ahead of the midterms, they plan to direct this energy into casting ballots.
“No Kings needs to be more than just getting people together every couple of months on a Saturday and marching,” said Hunter Dunn, an organizer with 50501, a decentralized anti-fascist protest network that is also part of the No Kings coalition. “The goal of it isn’t just to demonstrate people power. It’s to channel people power into something useful.”
A large early vote turnout gives voters time to fix problems with registration and narrows the window for interference, organizers said. They worry that fears over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the FBI, or armed militants at the polls could intimidate voters or force voters to stay home. They want to make the results “simply too big to rig”, Dunn said.
Leah Greenberg, an Indivisible co-founder, said the authoritarian playbook relies on creating “fear and uncertainty and confusion and chaos around the process of voting”, partly to manufacture grounds for contesting results later. Voting early interrupts that and “ensures that voting is a season rather than a single day”, she said.
Voting as a collective activity
At the heart of the thousands of events scheduled for Saturday is a goal to make voting a communal activity. That’s why the formats of Saturday’s events vary widely, from big-city rallies and concerts to festivals and block parties, voter registration tables and people lining long stretches of highway.
In states where early voting will already be under way on Saturday – about half the US – Levin said local groups will hold get-out-the-vote kick-offs and knock on doors. Where it has yet to begin, some will throw superhero-themed parties built around the message that voting is a superpower. Others have registered “paws to the polls” events, walking their dogs to vote together. In the handful of states without in-person early voting – New Hampshire, Alabama and Mississippi – Greenberg said participants will focus on helping people make a plan for election day.
Sarah Parker, a 50501 organizer in Florida, said small gatherings matter even in conservative places such as Sarasota, where rallies will be paired with virtual events and “education rallies” on why voting matters and how to become a poll monitor. “Even if you’re one or two people, you’re still creating change,” she said, noting that a passing driver might pull over and join. Poll walks, in which neighbors head to vote together, also serve a practical purpose amid rising threats at polling places. “Going as a group helps people be a lot more safe than going alone,” Dunn said.
A response to redistricting
The day of action is also a response to the fallout from the supreme court’s gutting of the Voting Rights Act in April. Soon after the decision, several Republican-led states moved to redraw congressional maps to favor the party, and in the process dilute Black voting power. Saturday’s flagship event, to be held in Atlanta, will highlight the effect of redistricting across the south.
“Black voters are under attack,” said LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter Fund, the organization hosting the flagship event, in a press briefing. She pointed to the FBI’s removal of about 650 boxes of 2020 election records from Fulton county, Georgia, in January, and a justice department push to obtain the names and home addresses of nearly 3,000 poll workers. “There is a full-fledged effort under way to steal this election,” she said.
Damon Hewitt, president of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said his group is watching for last-minute voter purges, attempts to seize ballots or equipment after the election, and intimidation at polling places. Last month, the group was part of a suit that stopped a Trump executive order that would have restricted delivery of mail-in ballots. Also, in Atlanta, local 50501 organizers expect to train more than 400 poll monitors and election defenders to ensure smooth voting and counting processes for voters and local election officials.
Preparing to take to the streets – again
Saturday’s organizers are also recruiting election defenders – volunteers trained to respond if results are challenged. Greenberg said the coalition is preparing people “to mass-mobilize on a rapid-response basis, if necessary, to respond to election sabotage”. Levin pointed to Hungary, where he said Viktor Orbán lost power this spring after thousands of local groups drove turnout to record levels. “The thing you can do about it is ensure that the margins are just so big that it’s impossible to rig,” he said.
Saturday will be judged on a single measure, Levin said. “Did we boost the early vote to the highest level it’s ever been in a midterm? Full stop. That is the question.”
