No Kings takes the ballot box to fight Trump's overreach
By Maya Ellison · Reporting from Detroit ·
No Kings organizers pivot from street protests to early voting drives and poll watching, building the working-class machinery needed to defeat Donald Trump's executive voter suppression.
From the streets to the ballot box
On Saturday, the No Kings coalition will hold over 3,000 "No Kings: Vote Early" marches and events nationwide, according to reporting by NPR. This is not another march to send a message. As Ezra Levin, co-founder of Indivisible, stated, "We're done sending a message." After months of historic street mobilizations against executive overreach, the movement is doing the hard, unglamorous work of building power where it counts. Organizers are registering voters, planning ballots, and training poll watchers to protect the franchise.
The numbers tell the story of a massive, decentralized infrastructure turning toward the November midterms. In Chicago, rallies are scheduled in Arlington Heights, Hyde Park, Horner Park, Evanston, Rogers Park, and Lincoln Park, as reported by ABC7 Chicago. In Kansas City, large turnouts are expected at Mill Creek Park, according to KCUR. Further actions are planned in Independence, Mission, Overland Park, and Lee's Summit. Events include a "Paws to the Polls" march with dogs in Golden, Colorado. In Frisco, Texas, Cammy Dunford and neighbors assembled goodie bags filled with QR codes. Ordinary people are building the machinery of democracy from the ground up.
The mechanics of federal voter suppression
Donald Trump wants to choke off that machinery before a single ballot is cast. Through Executive Order 14248 and Executive Order 14399, the administration demanded documentary proof of citizenship for mail-in voter registration. It restricted USPS transmission of ballots. The administration directed the attorney general to prioritize prosecuting state and local election officials who issue federal ballots to ineligible voters. This is not about election integrity. It is an intentional effort to erect barriers around the ballot box and criminalize standard election administration.
The Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder to enable state-level restrictions on voting access. Today, the administration uses administrative coercion to starve working-class voters of their voice. The mechanism is identical. Strip away federal protections and create administrative chaos at the margins. Force ordinary citizens to leap over manufactured hurdles just to cast a ballot. When the state tries to lock the doors to democracy, it takes grassroots resistance to kick them back open.
Building the machinery to fight back
We have seen this playbook before. When the rich and powerful buy up our political system, working people fight back with collective action, much like the millions who organized during Occupy Wall Street. Today, that energy is channeling into thousands of local actions. Christy McGillivray, executive director of Voters Not Politicians, reminded crowds that democracy is about working with and for each other. That solidarity is the exact counterweight we need against a corporate plutocracy that would rather rule by decree than face the voters.
The establishment will try to smear these efforts. Transportation secretary Sean Duffy and senator Ted Cruz baselessly attacked past protests as riots financed by external donors like George Soros. They fear what happens when working people organize. Over 3,000 events prove that the resistance has moved past mere symbolism and into direct electoral mobilization.
No Kings and its hundreds of partner organizations, including the ACLU and Black Voters Matter, are building an unstoppable firewall at the polls. Voters head to the ballot boxes this November. They will carry the strength of millions who refused to bend the knee to an aspiring monarch.
Sources
- NPR: No Kings turns its focus to voting this weekend. Here's what we know
- ABC7 Chicago: Chicago 'No Kings' protest locations near me: Rallies against Donald Trump, ICE, happening in Evanston, Arlington Heights and more
- KCUR: No Kings protests in Kansas City seek to mobilize voters ahead of midterm elections