JANESVILLE Janesville No Kings rally organizers join dozens of southern Wisconsin communities in a series of rallies planned Oct. 17, most aimed at voter literacy and boosting voter turnout in the upcoming Nov. 3 election.
Local organizers including the Town Hall Coalition, Indivisible Rock County and the Janesville League of Women Voters plan to host what will be Janesvilles fourth No Kings rally from noon-3 p.m. Oct. 17 at the Marvin Roth Community Pavilion at Lower Courthouse Park along South Main Street in downtown Janesville.
The No Kings movement is running local rallies across the nation on that same day all operating under the banner No Kings: Vote Early, a theme that coincides with some states hosting early in-person voting.
In Wisconsin, absentee voting by mail for the Nov. 3 midterm has been open since mid-September, but early, in-person voting starts Oct. 20 a few days after the series of statewide No Kings rallies runs.
The No Kings movement operates under a broader political message that opposes what organizers say are authoritarian, autocratic tactics being used under the current presidential administration.
Townhall Coalition co-chair Christina Hall said her groups involvement, and the emphasis on the Janesville No Kings rally is tied to voting and voter information in general in the run up to the Nov. 3 midterm election.
I would say its voter-based. The focus is to increase turnout among eligible voters, Hall said.
In the last fall midterm election, 2022, 70% of Rock Countys 95,000 voters cast ballots. Thats a high turnout, a trend partly driven by early voting, but it still means 30% of the voting population remained inactive.
Janesville ballots have a blend of competitive state-level and federal legislative races, alongside five different local and statewide referendums, making the Nov. 3 election locally a pivotal midterm for local voters.
Hall said the hope for the No Kings rally in Janesville, in part, is to reach at least some people who in the past have not voted consistently.
We do hope to reach out to people that arent necessarily super-engaged, and we would like to reach people that havent voted or dont necessarily vote regularly. This can be a challenge, she said.
The No Kings rally organizers plan to hand out flyers on voting from the Wisconsin League of Women Voters, and the event will include skits that answer common voting questions, alongside contests aimed at making the rally a dynamic, lively event.
We dont want voting to be seen as something thats boring. We are trying to find some fun things to do...Hopefully, its fun and informative at the same time, Hall said.
The No Kings rally presents itself as nonpartisan in how it relates voting information.
We wont be addressing specific candidates, Hall said.
The No Kings event runs at the same time as Janesvilles Saturday downtown farmers market. Theres no affiliation between the two events, but the farmers market draws crowds to the downtown riverfront, which is a block west of the Lower Courthouse Park, where Janesvilles No Kings rally is set.
Hall said the hope for organizers is that some new faces might filter through the rally that are attributable to a general uptick in foot traffic downtown.
We definitely hope to pull in some new people wherever we can, she said.
Other area No Kings: Vote Early events Oct. 17 include ones scheduled in Fort Atkinson, Delavan and Albany.