The No Kings coalition, whose hundreds of affiliated groups have put millions of Americans into the streets in support of democracy, rolled out its next big event yesterday. In a press release, the groups announced that October 17 will be a day of “coordinated, nonpartisan action across the country to drive early voting.” As organizers explained:
Millions took to the streets last year and gathered for one of the largest single-day, nonviolent direct actions in U.S. history in March. No Kings: Vote Early is the next step in this growing movement, making sure we use our collective power at the ballot box for the future we want for our families, communities, and country.
Rather than one more date for massive, made-for-media events, the organizers have set their sights on generating thousands of local events “working toward a common goal: making sure every eligible voter has a plan to vote early (where possible), knows their options for how to vote, and is ready to make their voice count by casting their ballot.”
The timing could not be more propitious, given the Trump regime’s attempt to disrupt midterm voting. Its most recent stunt, an effort to use the Post Office to impose burdensome new rules on mail-in voting, was sidelined (for now) by a preliminary injunction issued Friday by District Judge Indira Talwani in Massachusetts. But the Trump regime is appealing and will no doubt generate one gimmick after another designed to thwart early and mail-in balloting, intimidate state and local officials, and sow confusion among voters.
Voter suppression is all Republicans have, and they are going to be relentless in their frantic effort to cling to power.
Voters, conscientious state and local officials, and voting advocacy groups must continue to explain Trump’s deliberate, malicious effort to disrupt voting. In an amicus brief in the USPS case, the Center for Election Research and Innovation explained that the rule the Trump regime had proposed would have required “election officials to devote countless hours to inputting voter information into a brand-new, as-yet-unreleased, and wholly untested federal portal—on which no election officials have yet received any training, and which is almost certain to be overloaded as soon as it comes online.” The brief continued, that if “all that were not enough, the Rule would [have] further require[d] election officials to spend impossibly long periods of time waiting in person at local post offices while their jurisdictions’ mail-in ballot envelopes are painstakingly scanned and verified by postal employees. Every stage of this new, untested, and poorly conceived process is ripe for errors.”
No one could have proposed this scheme in good faith, given the “insurmountable burdens imposed by the Final Rule ... [directed] at the exercise of the fundamental right to vote, disenfranchising large numbers of voters and ultimately undermining public confidence in elections and election results.” The only reasonable conclusion is that the MAGA gang is quaking in fear that voters are prepared to throw them out of power — so the “solution” is to make voting as difficult, confusing, and burdensome as possible. Their hope, presumably, is that either more Democrats would be dissuaded from voting, or that the resulting chaos will provide grounds (however specious) for challenging the results.
Democrats, independents, and patriotic Republicans must call this out, and denounce those state officials eager to participate “voluntarily” in a scheme to deprive their own voters of the sacred, hard-earned right to vote.
This is where the October 17th Vote Early events come in. Given the Trump regime’s antics, it is more important than ever for voters to know exactly what options they have, including early, in-person voting. Voters must make certain their registration information is up to date and must familiarize themselves with everything from poll times to voter ID rules. In the face of an unprecedented voter suppression onslaught, democracy forces must devote resources and time to combating voter confusion and attempted disenfranchisement.
As Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen (a member of the No Kings Coalition) noted in the press release announcing the event: “The importance of as many people as possible voting early cannot be overstated.” She explained, “Early voting can make the difference between voting and not voting for people who are traveling, who are working on Election Day, who need options for childcare while voting, and more.”
A batch of other states will soon join North Carolina in sending out ballots, with 10 states mailing ballots more than 45 days before the election; another 10 mailing them at the 45-day mark; 13 sending them out 30-45 days before Election Day; and 15 sending them out in the last 30 days. California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Washington D.C., mail every voter a ballot. Millions of voters — including military personnel overseas — rely on the mail-in ballot system.
As conscientious state and local election workers do their jobs, every American should condemn attempts to impede voting, and throw sand in the gears of a system that is safe, secure, and reliable. (It is so secure that even after exaggerated, fantastical, and outright false claims that hundreds of thousands of illegal votes were cast, the Trump regime has been able to drum up charges against a total of … 4 people in two elections involving hundreds of millions of voters.) Likewise, no American should tolerate the Trump regime’s efforts to badger, intimidate, and harass local and state officials (including threats to withhold grant monies) for allegedly allowing noncitizens to vote — a transparent effort to enlist officials to suppress voting. Never before has a president and his lackeys set out to violate voting rights on such a massive scale. True Americans must be up to the task to defend this foundational right, then use their ballots to reject a regime that seeks to stay in power through reprehensible, illegal bullying.
Watch Indivisible’s Ezra Levin in conversation with Tim Dickinson:
Consigning one’s ballot to a mailbox likely means disenfranchisement in 2026. Taking it to a safe drop box or polling place, or showing up early and in person, or voting election day in person are the only safe means of voting this time.
There is another impediment built in to mail-in voting these days. The post office is overburdened and underfunded and has been for years. As a result, even under normal circumstances, mail can no longer be presumed to be delivered timely nor at all. Just as a matter of course, it is being mis-delivered and not delivered at all. This makes it very nerve-racking to mail ballots even without all the additional MAGA burdens.
At this point, mail in ballots are very risky. Using early voting is a must. It is also a must that we make sure people understand the process of early voting, as many do not.