In Salt Lake City, No Kings marchers carry ballots to drop boxes

With ballots hitting Utah mailboxes this week, protesters in Salt Lake City’s No Kings demonstration Saturday marched with their votes in hand to deposit in a downtown drop box.

The city’s fourth No Kings protest brought out a smaller crowd, with Utah Highway Patrol estimating 2,000 people at the Capitol grounds, and called for voters to demonstrate their opposition to the Trump administration and some Utah Republican leaders through their ballots. It was one of a dozen events scheduled across the state.

Near the front of the crowd as it moved down State Street was Salt Lake City resident and retiree Alan Sherwood, who raised his ballot overhead as he walked. When the march reached City Hall, he was among a few hundred who peeled off to turn in their votes.

Sherwood attended the protest with friends and said he was glad for the chance to cast their votes together.

“It was great to vote together as a group, because we’ve got to not forget that we need to exercise our right to vote, particularly when there’s authoritarianism all around us,” Sherwood said. “We wanted to make sure it was a public display, so that others could know and so that we could register our support for voting rights.”

Salt Lake City resident Kaylyn Tafoya also brought her ballot as she carried a sign announcing “It’s my birthday and all I want is for you to vote.” Saturday marked the first time she has joined a No Kings demonstration, and the chance to join others dropping off their ballots is what made her decide to come.

“It’s my birthday today and this is how I chose to celebrate,” said Tafoya, who is turning 38. She called the protest “emotional,” saying it gave her hope.

As they marched, the crowd joined in chants including “this is what democracy looks like” and “Salt Lake is a voting town.”

Some of the loudest reactions Saturday came as speakers at the event pointed to environmental issues like data center construction and removal of protection for public lands, including President Donald Trump’s executive order shrinking Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments.

Jessica Wiarda, a member of the Hopi Tribe and a local artist, stood on the Capitol steps and described the “heartbreaking day” that Trump cut protections for 90% of the two monuments that have deep significance for native tribes, saying the move “made clear that Utah is the epicenter of Republican efforts to dismantle and obliterate America’s system of public lands.” 

“President Trump’s outrageous attacks on the monuments was taken at the urging of Utah politicians,” Wiarda said, listing Sens. Mike Lee and John Curtis, Gov. Spencer Cox and Rep. Celeste Maloy as the crowd booed and shouted “shame!”

“One of the most important things you can do at this time is vote,” Wiarda said. “President Trump’s outrageous attacks on the national monuments was taken at the urging of Utah politicians, many of whom are on the ballot this November.” 

Michael Wahlquist, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, told the crowd that as Trump attacks voting by mail, though he himself uses it, there is an outsized impact on those who can’t easily vote in person, including working families or people working multiple jobs, people with disabilities, the elderly and military members.

Wahlquist expressed his relief that the U.S. Supreme Court blocked Trump’s efforts to restrict voting by mail in the November midterms, allowing ballots to go out unimpeded across the country for now, but efforts against the system are expected to continue. 

“Please stand with the over 200,000 city letter carriers and fight like hell to protect vote by mail,” said Wahlquist, who leads the sole union representing city delivery letter carriers employed by the U.S. Postal Service. “If they take away your vote, they take away your voice.”

Tim Elliott and Darlene McDonald lead the Salt Lake City No Kings crowd in chants as they near City Hall, where some will drop off ballots.

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— McKenzie Romero (@mckenzieromero.bsky.social) October 17, 2026 at 4:42 PM

Laura Allred, of Eagle Mountain, drove to the Capitol with her husband and children. She wore a sweatshirt that read “Make Gilead fiction again,” a reference to Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale.” With her 10-year-old daughter at her side, Allred said she wants her children to understand how to use their voices.

“I feel like I wasn’t educated about politics and what’s happening around me until I was an adult, and seeing what’s happening to our country, they’re going to be our future and if they don’t know what’s happening they’re not going to know how to fight it,” Allred said. 

Allred said her greatest concerns include women’s rights, bodily autonomy and the Great Salt Lake.

“I’m glad that I came, I wasn’t going to, I am a little sad that there’s not more people here,” Allred said. “But I am still feeling the empowerment that comes with being here, and I feel like being here will make a difference.”