By Shaanth Nanguneri and Mia Maldonado, Oregon Capital Chronicle

HAPPY VALLEY, Ore. — With the November election looming less than three weeks away, Oregonians took to the streets Saturday in the nation’s first vote-by-mail state to slam the Trump administration and encourage their fellow citizens to cast their ballots.

The coordinated national No Kings demonstrations are meant to encourage early voting. County election officials in Oregon began mailing ballots to the state’s 3.1 million voters on Wednesday, and ballots must be returned or in the mail with a postmark by 8 p.m. Nov. 3.

Find your nearest ballot box

Because of policy changes at the U.S. Postal Service that require all mail go to a central facility in Portland before it receives a postmark and reaches its intended destination, election officials are urging voters to use official ballot boxes. If voters choose to use the Postal Service, election officials advise mailing ballots no later than Oct. 27 or going in person to a post office counter to ask for a manual postmark.

Oregon organizers planned more than 30 rallies across the state Saturday as part of the national movement, with the largest expected in downtown Portland. Capital Chronicle reporters were on hand for protests in Happy Valley and Ontario.

Happy Valley, a Portland suburb of about 30,000 in the bellwether Clackamas County, is the home of both U.S. Rep. Janelle Bynum and her Republican predecessor, former U.S. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer.

Several protesters at the city’s demonstration at an intersection by a local Grocery Outlet store offered QR codes for people to find official drop box sites. The city will also have an in-person voting center at its local library beginning next week, according to Clackamas County Clerk Catherine McMullen.

Elizabeth Hawkins, a kindergarten teacher from Happy Valley, dressed as the Statue of Liberty holding a glitter fringe flame. She said she’s not taking any chances with the U.S Postal Service this year and will return her ballot at a drop box.

“I am generally a last-minute person,” she said. “But this time I’m making sure it gets in early.”