Oregonians urge early voting at statewide ‘No Kings’ protests ahead of election 

HAPPY VALLEY — With the November election looming less than three weeks away, Oregonians took to the streets Saturday in the nation’s first vote-by-mail state to slam the Trump administration and encourage their fellow citizens to cast their ballots.

The coordinated national No Kings demonstrations are meant to encourage early voting. County election officials in Oregon began mailing ballots to the state’s 3.1 million voters on Wednesday, and ballots must be returned or in the mail with a postmark by 8 p.m. Nov. 3.

Because of policy changes at the U.S. Postal Service that require all mail go to a central facility in Portland before it receives a postmark and reaches its intended destination, election officials are urging voters to use official ballot boxes. If voters choose to use the Postal Service, election officials advise mailing ballots no later than Oct. 27 or going in person to a post office counter to ask for a manual postmark.

Oregon organizers planned more than 30 rallies across the state Saturday as part of the national movement, with the largest expected in downtown Portland. Capital Chronicle reporters were on hand for protests in Happy Valley and Ontario. 

Happy Valley, a Portland suburb of about 30,000 in the bellwether Clackamas County, is the home of both U.S. Rep. Janelle Bynum and her Republican predecessor, former U.S. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer. 

Several protesters at the city’s demonstration at an intersection by a local Grocery Outlet store offered QR codes for people to find official drop box sites. The city will also have an in-person voting center at its local library beginning next week, according to Clackamas County Clerk Catherine McMullen. 

Elizabeth Hawkins, a kindergarten teacher from Happy Valley, dressed as the Statue of Liberty holding a glitter fringe flame. She said she’s not taking any chances with the U.S Postal Service this year and will return her ballot at a drop box.

“I am generally a last-minute person,” she said. “But this time I’m making sure it gets in early.”

Debi Laird, an Oregon City resident and former special education teacher, stressed the importance of the event’s focus on voting regardless of party affiliation. 

“I was Republican. My dad was Republican, and we felt the Republican Party left us,” she said. “We have to figure out who we are again as a nation.”

Sen. Mark Meek, D-Gladstone, donned a cardboard ballot box costume to join demonstrators in Happy Valley. Meek, who is running for reelection, said that he felt it was important to show up in support of democracy.

“Us out here today is just representative that we care about our country, we love our country, and nobody can tell us that we’re less American than anybody else,” he said. “We want proper elected officials representing this country, and the only way we can change it is to vote.”

More than 350 miles away, several dozen demonstrators gathered in Ontario, a city of about 12,000 across the Snake River from Idaho. It’s the largest city in Malheur County, which President Trump won with more than 70% of the vote in 2024.  

Demonstrators marched the half-mile from city hall to Lion Park, accompanied by a roughly even mix of supportive honks and drivers yelling.

Nonprofit consultant Kathie Collins, 61, has lived in Ontario since she was 4 years old. She was a registered Republican for 40 years, switched to being an independent voter and officially registered with the Democratic Party this year.

“I no longer recognize the Republican Party,” she said. “It doesn’t stand for family values. It doesn’t stand for fiscal conservatives.” 

Collins said she has seen more of her conservative neighbors come to agree with her as Trump makes decisions she considers “egregiously stupid,” including suspending tariffs on foreign beef that affects local ranchers and announcing the U.S. military would live-stream an execution, a decision he has since walked back. 

Jerome Goettsch, a Vietnam War veteran who lives in Idaho in the Payette-Weiser area near Ontario, said it’s hard being a Democrat in Idaho. He’s frustrated by the Trump administration’s characterization of veterans and criticized its new testosterone testing requirements. 

“You know D-Day? You know when they hit the beach? They didn’t check them for their testosterone beforehand. It’s stupid,” he said.

Oregonians can find information about their nearest county election office here.