With #MarchToThePolls in Chicago, Women's March Aims to Channel 'Outrage and Energy' to Defeat Trump Agenda on Election Day

Energized by the outrage that resulted from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination and confirmation in recent weeks, the Women’s March Chicago will hold a rally and literal “march to the polls” on Saturday, with marchers walking to early voting sites to cast their ballots in the midterm elections.

The 2018 March to the Polls will follow Chicago’s 300,000-strong Women’s March on January 20, 2018, offering resources and information to first-time voters as well as musical guests and speakers including Heather Booth, founder of the pre-Roe v. Wade underground abortion collective Jane. 

Offering a model to other communities nationwide, organizers say the event aims to mobilize voters in Chicago and all over the country to go to the polls in record numbers on November 6—and before if early voting is available to them—to fight the Republican Party’s anti-woman, anti-immigration, and anti-healthcare agenda.

“The stakes are sky-high this November,” Women’s March Chicago board president Jessica Scheller said in a statement announcing the event last month. “We need every single woman—from first time voters to great-grandmothers—along with every single ally to take to the streets and converge on the polls. We have been practicing for months. Now it’s time to channel our outrage and energy and truly make our voices heard through our votes in greater numbers than ever before.”

Before rallying in Chicago’s Grant Park, newly registered voters will be invited to “mingle with elected officials, community leaders and others” at a “First Time Voter Experience” area hosted by the grassroots group Chicago Votes.

“The purpose is to start the midterm elections in Illinois the best way we possibly can, by celebrating first-time voters and making sure they’re all eligible to get registered and cast a ballot in the upcoming election cycle,” Rudy Garrett, a Women’s March Chicago board member and the co-deputy director of Chicago Votes, told WTTW on Thursday.

“The stakes are sky-high this November. We need every single woman—from first time voters to great-grandmothers—along with every single ally to take to the streets and converge on the polls.” —Jessica Scheller, Women’s March Chicago