On Saturday, Jan. 20, San Diego Women’s March will hold its second annual march in downtown San Diego starting at 10 a.m.

The march is free to those interested in participating and, according to San Diego Women’s March Facebook event invitation, the event is not a protest but a “peaceful gathering.”

In comparison to last year’s theme of making the voices of women heard, the theme for this year’s San Diego Women’s March is “make all votes count.”

“This march will engage and empower voters to support women’s rights, human rights, social and environmental justice, and to encourage participation in 2018 elections,” according to a San Diego Women’s March press release.

Nationally, the 2018 Senate election will take place in November and in the City of San Diego the 2018 primary elections will take place on June 5 for council districts 2, 4, 6, and 8.

Last year, more than 30,000 individuals walked from the San Diego Civic Center to the San Diego County Administration Center.

The march in San Diego was in solidarity with the Women’s March in Washington, marches in other parts of the country, and the world, following the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

“Last year’s march was a powerful and engaging event for raising awareness of important issues. This year, we will again peacefully gather and mobilize that energy towards impacting the 2018 elections, ensuring representation of our ideals of dignity, justice and equity,” Monica Boyle, director of Women’s March San Diego said in a press release.

San Diego resident Tina Nauta said she and her family will be participating for the first time and is looking forward to the experience and the sense of everyone coming together.

“I’m marching for my kids, just everything that’s going on now I want them to know that women and all people have a voice, and a voice is a powerful thing,” Nauta said. “I want them to be able to see how many people are there and women supporting women.”

Nauta, a mother of five, said that while sitting at the dining room table making posters for the march, she let her children know that the march is more powerful than hate so no signs would be negative.

She shared a photo of her youngest son on the Women’s March San Diego Facebook page of him holding a sign that read, “Men of quality respect women’s equality” and was surprised by the amount of positive comments.

According to the San Diego Women’s March website, program attendees include, Senator Toni Atkins, Elder Nancy Nagle of the Santa Ysabel Kumeyaay Nation, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, Congresswoman Susan Davis and many more.

San Diego Women’s March has fundraised over $3,000 for the march through Kind Fund.

Those interested in participating are encouraged to mark “going” on Facebook and can learn more by visiting their website.