Protestors holding signs at the fourth "No Kings" protest in Montgomery, Alabama, on Oct. 17, 2026. The demonstration focused on voter registration and participation in preparation for the midterm elections in 17 days. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector)
More than 250 people gathered in downtown Montgomery Saturday to encourage voter turnout ahead of the midterm elections and Monday’s deadline to register to vote.
The demonstration was the fourth “No Kings” protest, a national movement protesting President Donald Trump and his administration’s policies. More than 2,500 events were planned across the country for the fourth installment, which focused on early voting. Montgomery’s event was one of 17 in Alabama, with events scheduled in Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile and other cities around the state.
Alabama does not have early in-person voting or no excuse absentee voting. State Democratic lawmakers have tried for years to pass an early in person voting law passed, but Republicans have objected, claiming high costs.
“Do you want early voting here?” said Beth Bowden, one of the event’s organizers, triggering cheers from the crowd.
Alabama’s voter turnout is among the lowest in the country. In 2024, 58.7% of eligible voters cast a ballot, the lowest turnout for the state in a presidential election since 1988, according to data from the Alabama Secretary of State’s Office. About 38.6% of eligible voters cast a ballot in the state’s last midterm election in 2022, the lowest turnout recorded since 1986 for a midterm election.
In lieu of early voting, organizers turned to encouraging voter turnout and democratic participation. The deadline to register to vote in Alabama’s midterm elections is Monday. The election is in 17 days.
Tabitha Isner, former vice chair of the Alabama Democratic Party, co-founded a nonprofit organization called Atlas for Democracy. Recently, she has been identifying what she calls Super Voters in Montgomery County through state voting records – those that have voted at least 25 times in the last 15 years, or in every election in that time period.
Isner said that 5% of the county’s registered voters fall in that category. She visits those voters, gives them a Super Voter yard sign and visits with them.
“The goal is honor and praise, pure and simple,” she said. “I just want people to know that somebody noticed that they’re doing the thing, but also we know it needs to be done.”
Montgomery is a Democratic-leaning city, but Isner visits voters regardless of ideology. She said a Republican asked her why she was at his house, when they both knew each other’s politics.
“I love democracy more than I love being a Democrat,” she said.
She said in the last 15 years, 13% of Montgomery County voters have voted at least 20 times, 23% have voted at least 15 times and 53% have voted less than five times.
Isner was also giving Super Voters signs at the protest and had a red carpet for them to walk down for photos. One was Joanne Compton, who said in an interview that she votes because her ancestors fought for her right to do so.
“I’m standing on the shoulders of my ancestors, and I’m hoping that I’m making them proud because of the sacrifices that they made just for me to be able to vote. Not only can you not vote, but I can also vote for the future generation that’s coming up,” she said.
Evan Milligan, a plaintiff in Alabama’s redistricting case Allen v. Milligan, which led to the creation of a near-majority Black congressional district in Alabama that was redrawn by the Legislature in May, said Saturday that what he called the king-like power demonstrated by the Trump administration has been used against Black voting rights before.
“This is a place where I believe we can imagine a different type of outcome, but what will that outcome require of us? We have to stop doing one thing, and that’s lying to ourselves about where and how leadership works in our social movements,” Milligan said. “We say ‘No Kings,’ but we have to – if we’re at a crossroads – question ourselves and even our own slogans.”
The map created in the Milligan case was redrawn following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais and the subsequent special session of the Alabama Legislature that canceled congressional primary elections in four districts and two state senate districts.
Sheyann Webb-Christburg, who was eight years old when Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. attempted to lead hundreds in a march from Selma to Montgomery in March 1965, said Saturday she has never stopped fighting for voting rights.
“Regardless of the struggles and the challenges which we are plagued with today, we can’t feel tired because we’ve come too far from where we started from,” she said.
As of June 16, 3.8 million Alabamians were registered to vote, according to the Alabama Secretary of State’s Office. Montgomery County Probate Judge J.C. Love III, the county’s chief election official, emphasized the importance of voter participation in all elections.
A recent special Montgomery City Council election was decided by 13 votes, he said, with a turnout of 6.9%.
“The next time somebody tells you that one vote doesn’t matter, remember those 13 votes, because elections are not decided by the people who intended the vote,” he said at the protest. “They are not decided by the people who talked about voting, and they are not decided by the people who complained about the outcome afterward, they are decided by the ballots actually cast and lawfully counted.”
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Author: Anna Barrett