No Kings rallies promote early voting ahead of midterm elections

Rallies organized by the No Kings network took place Saturday in multiple U.S. cities, encouraging voters to submit their ballots before Election Day. The events were presented as nonpartisan but built on a series of demonstrations that began nearly two years ago in response to President Donald Trump's administration.

At the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, a band performed for a crowd of several hundred people who braved cold weather while holding signs such as "VOTE EARLY" and "HANDS OFF MY VOTE!". In Atlanta, City Councilman Michael Julian Bond addressed attendees, urging them to exercise their constitutional right to vote. > "The Constitution gives you one power, right? That is the power to vote. Are you gonna use that power?" Bond said, adding a comparison to fictional heroes to stress the importance of voting.

President Trump has repeatedly expressed skepticism about mail voting and has alleged, without evidence, that fraud affected the 2020 election. On Thursday, his administration filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent California from counting mail-in ballots from individuals identified as "likely" noncitizens until their immigration status is verified. The Justice Department warned local officials that processing such ballots could expose them to criminal investigations.

Democratic senators Alex Padilla, Sheldon Whitehouse and Dick Durbin wrote to Attorney General Todd Blanche, requesting that the Justice Department refrain from seizing ballots or other election materials before the midterms are certified.