No Kings: Vote Early Dallas

It was one of the first days that actually felt like fall in Dallas. The morning was chilly, in the 50s, and gave way to a lovely afternoon in the 70s. The previous day had wind upwards of 20mph and that day was nothing more than a slight breeze. The table joined the No Kings: Vote Early event at Pacific Plaza in downtown Dallas, billed by its organizers, Indivisible Dallas and the Children’s Defense Fund, as a day of nonpartisan voter participation.

This event was the first time I had help running the table. Having help elevated the experience because it meant there was another person to engage new visitors to the table while I was mid-spiel with others. This event also marked the first time stickers were available for people to take. In addition, my friend and I were wearing We (ARE) the People t-shirts, which made it much clearer who was running the table.

For those following along, you’ll be happy to know that I made a dedicated sign with a QR code so people could easily follow us on Instagram, which worked out well.

One moment stood out. When a gentleman heard the question, “What would you remind an American in 2076?” he shared a brash, knee-jerk answer directly with me. I encouraged him to share his take and offered an index card or the digital submission. He said his handwriting would be hard to read, so I set him up with the digital route and excused myself to help others. Several minutes later I came back to check on him and found he had decided to be more intentional with his words because he wanted to share something that was less abrasive, recognizing others, especially kids, would read his take. The table is about having a sense of agency and expressing yourself authentically, but that moment illustrated something else the table represents: a space to slow down and reflect.

This stop recorded 59 takes, more than the two earlier tables combined, which coincidentally took in 18 each. That brings the total to 103 across four stops.