Protesters lined Pearl Street near George Washington Park in downtown on Centralia on Saturday for “No Kings 4: Vote Early Lewis County — National Day of Action.”
Rural Lewis County Indivisibles organized the event, which included an effort to get out the vote for the Nov. 3 general election.
The group also voiced opposition to the repeal of Washington’s new income tax.
“Recently, the USPS Postmaster General caused mail postmarking timing to vary widely, often taking much longer than it used to by greatly decreasing the number of postmarking locations,” Rural Lewis County Indivisibles wrote in a news release prior to the event. “For example, Lewis County mail is now postmarked in Tacoma. This makes early voting and using a ballot drop box very important.”
In the news release, the organization said Washington state has the second most regressive tax system in the country, noting that the poorest 20% of the population use 13% of their total income to pay taxes while the richest 1% only pays 4.1% of their income on taxes.
According to Rural Lewis County Indivisibles, “families can’t afford gasoline, healthcare, food, and housing. Costs are pushing people to the brink, while we’re forced to pay for ballrooms, forever wars, concentration camps and illegal tariffs. Our WA State Legislature finally passed legislation, set to take effect 2029, to address this unfair tax system. However, an uber-rich hedge fund manager bankrolled an Initiative to try and block it before working families and small businesses begin to benefit from the relief it will provide.”
The Saturday protest was set to include sign waving, local speakers, the Lewis County Singing Resistance, prize giveaways, face painting, games and a food truck.
“A major difference this time is that instead of a display contest we are focusing heavily on early voting,” the group wrote in the news release.
