No Kings shifts to early voting with 3,000-plus events nationwide

Where: In the Washington area, marchers planned to rally at Memorial Circle in Arlington, Va., and cross Memorial Bridge to the Lincoln Memorial, NBC4 Washington reported. AFP listed a march to the Supreme Court, a music festival in Los Angeles and election-observer training in Atlanta. MS NOW reported protesters near President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla. In Seattle, a 2 p.m. march from Westlake Park to Seattle Center was expected to draw tens of thousands, fewer than the 100,000 an organizer said joined in March, according to The Seattle Times.

What organizers say: Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin told NPR that "the first three No Kings were designed to send a message. We're done sending a message." He said the goals are record early-vote turnout and training volunteers as poll watchers, citing Trump's attempted limits on mail voting and concern that immigration officers could be sent to polling places. Organizers call the events nonpartisan, and their rules bar endorsements and candidate speakers, NPR reported.

Early voting: Early voting is underway in many states, and Election Day is Nov. 3. The point of the push is turnout large enough to be hard to dispute, said Alma Couverthie of the watchdog group Common Cause, according to AFP. Coalition partners include the ACLU, the American Federation of Teachers, MoveOn and Black Voters Matter, USA Today and NPR reported.

The White House response: Spokeswoman Lauren Bis told USA Today and Newsweek that organizers talking about voting "proves they should change their name." She said voters face "a clear choice" between Trump and Republicans' policies and what she called Democrats' "radical socialist, open-border policies."

How outlets framed it: NPR, AFP and USA Today led with the shift from protest to turnout and organizers' nonpartisan pledge. Fox News Digital reported that some local chapters promoted "Vote Blue" and "vote them out" signs that the coalition's own rules forbid, and that a California county Democratic Party tied canvassing to a rally. Fox also quoted Levin calling Democratic candidates "quite good" and Republican ones "quite trash" in a webinar. Organizers did not respond to Fox's request for comment.

What's still unknown: How many people turned out on Saturday, since no national crowd estimate had been released at the time of writing, and whether the events will move early-vote numbers in any state. Watch for organizers' turnout claims, independent counts, and state early-voting data in the coming week.

Reported while events were still underway on Saturday morning Pacific time. Event counts come from organizers, and no national crowd estimate had been released. Claims that some local groups broke the coalition's nonpartisan rules come from a Fox News Digital review of event listings; organizers did not respond to Fox.