Santa Fe, Las Cruces No Kings events focus on early voting

In Santa Fe, organizers estimated close to 1,000 people attended the “No Kings: Vote Early” rally outside the Roundhouse on Saturday morning. As with previous No Kings events, participants such as Santa Fe Raging Grannies sang protest and folk songs reworked to criticize the Trump administration, and the crowds ballooned as more and more people lined the sidewalks, holding anti-Trump signs as passersby in cars honked and waved.

But Saturday’s No Kings event, iterations of which took place across the state and the country, differed in some ways by centering on the upcoming Nov. 3 general election.

Ellen Hill, chair of Indivisible’s Santa Fe chapter, told Source NM that the event aimed to spur early voter turnout. 

“Vote early, bank your vote, protect your vote,” Hill said. 

While early voting in New Mexican began Oct. 7, Saturday marked the start of expanded early voting locations. As of Friday, 4.3% of all registered voters across New Mexico cast either absentee or early ballots. 

Thousands rally in Albuquerque, Santa Fe for No Kings anti-Trump protest

Hannah Wetovsky attended the event and performed before a crowd a rendition of Chumbawamba’s tune “On the Day the Nazi Died.”

She told Source NM that she and her husband Nicholas planned on voting early after the event’s conclusion, and noted the importance of voting in a world that is “scary, where people are getting kidnapped and the rich keep getting richer.”

Wetovsky, a millenial, added that she hopes to see more of her generation at the polls for the midterms. Many millennials, she said, feel disconnected from politics and that voting does not matter — a sentiment  with which she disagrees. The Trump administration “wouldn’t be trying to suppress the vote if voting didn’t matter,” Wetovsky said.

Speakers during the event expressed concern that the Trump administration might interfere with the midterm elections and presented early voting as a way to combat that fear.

“Every vote gets banked the day that it’s voted,” Shari Hirst, an Indivisible organizer, said before a gathered crowd, adding that early votes “cannot be stolen by shenanigans.” 

Will Schmidt, a member of Santa Fe’s Indivisible chapter, handed out anti-fascist pins and buttons to attendees. He also expressed concern over the “monkey business” that the Trump administration “and his regime have tried with the post office. They’re trying to throw wrenches into the process wherever they can.” He urged people to vote early in order to “give the fascists as strong of a gut punch as we possibly can.”

Over the past several months, the Trump administration has launched failed efforts to obtain voter rolls from New Mexico and other states, and is currently pushing California to remove voters it says are non-citizens from its voter rolls. The administration has also raised concerns about mail-in ballots, raising ongoing concerns by states about federal interference during the midterm elections. New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez and Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver on Oct. 13 issued a voter advisory reinforcing practical information and voter rights.

Hill told Source NM that based on online registration and participation, organizers expected just under 1,000 to attend the event. She added that she casted her ballot the first day early voting started because she is eager to see change. 

While speaking to the crowd outside the Roadhouse, Hill highlighted wealthy political donors, such as Elon Musk, who has been backing Republican midterm campaigns with $276 million in donations.

“But here’s the thing — he’s just one guy,” Hill said. “We’re a lot of people.”

In Las Cruces, several hundred protestors flocked to Albert Johnson Park for the No Kings: Vote Early Day of Action, with more than 50 people walking over to cast early ballots at Las Cruces city hall Saturday morning.

Protestors lined the streets surrounding the park in downtown Las Cruces and drivers honked car horns in support of sign-holders, while protest songs sung by local group Volunteers of America could be heard in the background.

Many attendees told Source New Mexico that they were motivated to participate Saturday to call out authoritarianism in the White House.

“[President Trump] started an insurrection and still people voted for him. He was convicted of a number of felonies and it’s unbelievable what’s happening in this country,” Las Cruces resident Dean Williams told Source NM at the protest. 

He said if Democrats could take back control of Congress, it would be a “step in the right direction” as Republicans have shown that they will not “hold their people to account.” And having voted on both sides of the aisle in his time, Williams said he will be voting Democrat this election because the “Republican Party at the national level has just gone loco.”

Williams added that he is waiting to see if the negative impacts of rising prices across the country will be enough to motivate people to change how they vote. 

Las Cruces resident Laurel Brandi told Source NM Saturday’s No Kings protest had a different feel compared to previous ones, but said she believes it is important to keep showing up.

“Maybe I’m just projecting it, but it just feels a little less explosive and a little more dug in, like rooted in for the work,” she said. “Less reactive and more like grinding through.”

Brandi has a 5-year-old son and pointed to the recent fatal school shooting in Bend, Oregon as another motivator to get to the polls so she can send her child to school safely without worrying. “What can we do? What is there besides this, voting?” she said. Her son joined her at the polls when she cast her ballot on Oct. 6, the first day early voting opened.

At 11 a.m., organizers invited protestors to walk to city hall and cast their ballots early. Over 50 people lined up in the city hall lobby. Las Cruces resident Davena Norris told Source NM that her husband predicted there would be a line to vote, which she happily welcomed. 

“I was like, great, I’d love to stand in a long line because it means that there’s a lot of people that are getting out to vote,” Norris said. She said she “strongly” supports Daisy Maldonado for Doña Ana County Commissioner for District 1 because of her work in bringing the voices of the southern county to the table, particularly in regards to the controversial AI datacenter Project Jupiter under development in the area.