You heard it here first:
Movement Voter Project (MVP) and our partners are working to make 2026 the biggest early vote in history!
Election Day is November 3, but in most places, people can vote for multiple weeks beforehand, either by mail or in person. MVP is working with dozens of national and local organizations to plan highly visible, collaboratively organized, nonpartisan events — rallies, marches, parties, and more — to get voters to the polls early in hundreds of cities and campuses across the country.
But before we get into the details of specific early voting events and key dates you need to know, let’s talk about why MVP is working to make 2026 the biggest early vote in history!
Photo: Minnesota organizers hold a press conference promoting September 18, 2026, the first day of early voting.
Why is voting early this year SO important?
This year, we are likely to face all kinds of attacks on our elections, and having massive early vote turnout is one way MVP and our partners are going on offense against potential election interference.
You may be thinking, “But how is voting early going to stop election sabotage??” The short answer is that there’s no guarantee that it will, but here’s why a massive early vote turnout can play a huge role in election defense:
- Voting early spreads out people’s votes across a longer time frame, making it harder to sabotage than a concentrated push on Election Day.
- Voting early gives voters more time to correct or overcome any challenges or complications they may face when casting their ballot.
- Voting early allows organizers to get more enthusiastic voters out first to show our power early and build momentum.
Need more reasons why voting early is extra strategic this year? We got you.
Top 10 Reasons Why Early Voting Is Eeeeeextra Strategic This Year
- It helps protect vulnerable communities from Election Day shenanigans.
- For many voters, it’s more convenient!
- Banking our votes early shows our strength and momentum.
- It helps turn voters into volunteers with “vote tripling” — organizing friends, family, and neighbors to vote after you’ve cast your ballot.
- It turns voting into a collective experience.
- It creates a pro-voting vibe with “I Voted Early” stickers and “social proof” online.
- It’s an inexpensive way to mobilize voters.
- It’s a great “pressure test” of organizers’ efforts to mobilize against election interference.
- It creates a spectacle of collective, joyful defiance to motivate others.
- It juuuust might be more fun than voting on Election Day.
Yes! Let’s vote early! Now what?
More organizations than ever before are prioritizing early vote events as a central part of their get-out-the-vote and election defense strategies. MVP’s goal is to support as many events as possible with funding, encouragement, light coordination, and swag support via anchor national and local organizations. And we want to let you know what these organizations are up to, so you can get involved and support their early vote campaigns.
Graphic: The No Kings coalition is hosting a vote early National Day of Action on October 17.
Mark Your Calendar: Key Early Vote Activation Dates
Below are some key time frames that various organizations will focus their early vote efforts on, with a bunch of other local groups planning early vote events and campaigns for whichever dates work best for them. And remember: Early voting rules, dates, and availability vary wildly by state and county, so make sure to check before making early vote plans.
First Day of Early Voting (dates vary by state and county)
Groups are planning nonpartisan rallies, press conferences, and more at early voting locations to announce the start of early voting, sometimes planned with local elections boards.
Saturday, October 17: No Kings National Day of Action Mass Mobilization
The No Kings coalition is planning an Early Vote National Day of Action on October 17 — the first Saturday of early vote in 40+ states. This is the first of two mass early vote mobilization days (see October 24 below for #2), and we are pumped. Find an event near you, or organize one of your own!
Sunday, October 18: Souls to the Polls
We’re also expecting major Souls to the Polls events — folks voting together after church services — on Sunday, October 18, the first early vote Sunday in many states. Souls to the Polls is for everyone, but is often specifically geared towards Black voters.
October 18-23: National “Vote in Your Pajamas” Week
This creatively titled vote-from-home week will feature digital promotion of mail-in voting, encouraging voters to send in their mail-in ballots at least 10 days before the election to ensure they arrive in time to be counted.
Saturday, October 24: Vote Early Day Mass Mobilization
Saturday, October 24, is Vote Early Day, and organizations around the country will be hosting early vote rallies, marches, and events to mobilize people to the polls.
October 25-30: Early Vote Week
This Early Vote Week, groups will host hundreds of events from Souls to the Polls on Sunday, October 25, to high school and college campus activations to encourage young people to cast their ballots early.
October 31-November 1: Final Early Vote Weekend
Typically, a lot of organic early voting energy is channeled into these dates as a last chance to vote early in many states. Can’t wait to see what kind of creativity organizers come up with for Halloween early voting!
November 3: Election Day
Obviously, Election Day isn’t early, but by November 3, participants and organizers of early vote events will be free to help mobilize people who have not voted yet.
Photo: Joy to the Polls makes voting fun and joyful through a parade complete with a brass band, costumes, and dancers.
But wait! There’s more: Cultural and digital amplification
Part of getting people out to vote early is making it fun, joyful, and, this year, a little (or a lot!) defiant. MVP is supporting groups in creating a fun, festival-like early vote atmosphere with musicians, food, DJs, culture makers, creators, and partnerships with local radio stations.
- Party at the Polls with When We All Vote: When We All Vote is again hosting Party at the Polls this year, with a goal of supporting 5,000 parties to reach 20 million voters. Want to host a party? Sign up here.
- Joy to the Polls: Host a party at your polling place with Joy to the Polls — a get-out-the-vote initiative driven by culture, music, and art. With a focus on early voting sites, Joy to the Polls makes voting fun, and who doesn’t want that!?
MVP is also supporting and helping launch digital campaigns that reach voters where they are — online. Creating surround-sound early vote momentum, content creators and MVP partners are using so many different tactics and messages — from uplifting local issues in Michigan to reminding Black voters of their power in the South to focusing on affordability in Maine — to build energy around voting early.
MVP is even supporting a “F*ck You, I’m Voting” cohort of nine online creators who are amplifying voting as an act of defiance against everything from ICE at the polls to money in politics and foreign campaign contributions and also reminding voters that politics is everywhere. Creators who are known for talking about non-political topics (e.g., sports, Broadway, ASMR) are also using their platforms to encourage voters to get to the polls and to get there early.
These cultural and digital campaigns will help attract “high-opportunity” voters (often referred to as “low-propensity voters”) to vote early, spread the word about voting as an act of joyful defiance, and amplify early voting through peer-to-peer engagement and vote tripling (mobilizing other people to vote alongside you).
The Who’s Who of Early Voting
The success of the biggest early vote in history requires hundreds of national and local civic engagement and cultural organizations, as well as thousands of artists, creators, and influencers to pitch in. There is no unified budget, but MVP is collaborating with and helping resource as many of these efforts as possible.
Here are just some of the organizations that have taken on major early vote roles this year. Check ‘em out, in addition to the ones listed above. And, above all, go vote early and help us fund the biggest early vote in history!
- Students Learn Students Vote Coalition: Students Learn Students Vote Coalition is a major Vote Early Day anchor on hundreds of campuses.
- NAACP: The NAACP has been doing early vote and Souls to the Polls events for years and is ramping up this year! They just launched a joint campaign to mobilize 100,000 Black men to vote early by October 24.
- State Voices: State Voices is a national network of statewide, nonpartisan voting tables (aka coordinating bodies) that promoted early vote rallies in 2024 and is doing so again in 2026.
- Poder Latinx: Poder Latinx has a strong early voting program in multiple Latine-heavy states and is hosting the Vote Early Day coalition this year.
- Black Voters Matter Fund: Black Voters Matter Fund mobilizes Black voters in the South to vote early through a network of local Black organizations, Souls to the Polls events, and other early voting activities.
- Task Force: Task Force has organized major culture-first early vote rallies in multiple cities across multiple election cycles.
