No Kings told the country to vote early.

WASHINGTON — Rallies organized by the No Kings network were held Saturday in cities and towns across the country, with the stated aim of getting people to vote early in the Nov. 3 midterms. The Associated Press said the hundreds of events were billed as nonpartisan, and that they were built on nearly two years of marches by people upset with President Trump. At the Lincoln Memorial, a band played for what appeared to be a few hundred people in caps and coats. Many danced. Signs read “Vote early” and “Hands off my vote!” In Atlanta, City Councilman Michael Julian Bond told the crowd to send other people to the polls before Nov. 3. “The Constitution gives you one power, right? That is the power to vote. Are you gonna use that power?” he said. “You don’t see Superman giving up his power. You don’t see Black Panther giving up his power. You don’t see Wonder Woman giving up her magic lasso. So why would you give up your right, your power, your obligation to vote?”

Trump has long distrusted mail voting and has said, without evidence, that fraud cost him the 2020 election. On Thursday his administration sued California election officials and asked a judge to stop the state from counting, in the midterms, mail ballots from people the federal government has flagged as “probable” noncitizens, until their status can be checked. On Friday the Justice Department warned that local officials who process and count ballots from people alleged to be noncitizens risk a criminal investigation and possible prosecution. Also on Friday, Democratic Sens. Alex Padilla of California, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, and Dick Durbin of Illinois wrote Attorney General Todd Blanche and asked for a commitment that the department will not seize ballots or other election materials before the midterm results are certified.

The Constitution gives you one power, right? That is the power to vote.

The photograph is a Saturday No Kings rally: a man shouting, a megaphone in his hand, a sign that says postal workers are election heroes, and a crowd behind him holding “Vote your power.” It is not the band at the Lincoln Memorial, and it is not Bond in Atlanta. The signs are about the vote. That is the day the wire described.