Meghan Markle votes in the California midterm elections

Meghan Markle cast her vote in the California midterm elections, she revealed today, while sharing an image of herself proudly sporting an ‘I voted’ sticker. 

The 41-year-old, who was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, and now resides in a $14.65 million mansion in Montecito with Prince Harry, 38, and their two children, posted the image on the Sussexes’ Archewell Foundation website – along with a checklist of reminders for other voters. 

Meghan and Harry’s favored media source, Omid Scobie, also posted the photo of the Duchess on his Twitter account; the photo shows the mother-of-two wearing a low-key outfit featuring a beige sweater, blue jeans, blue rain jacket, and an Archwell baseball cap. 

In the photo, the Duchess is seen beaming happily at the camera while posing in front of a lush green hedge. 

It is unclear whether Meghan chose to vote in person, or whether she cast her ballot via mail. 

Meghan, 41, and Harry, 38, also shared a ‘voter checklist’ on the website for their Archewell Foundation, which included advice like ‘check your polling location and hours’

‘US #ElectionDay is here!’ Scobie wrote on his Twitter account, while sharing the image of the Duchess. 

‘Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Foundation has created a voters’ checklist and opened a text service to help people find their polling locations.’

A page on the Archewell website, simply titled ‘Vote’, contains the same image of Meghan, along with a list of ‘helpful reminders’ for those who are preparing to cast their ballots in the election today. 

Meghan and Harry also shared a text service number, which the website states will help people to find there local polling station.

‘Text ARCHEWELL to 26797 to find your polling location and make sure you are ready to vote,’ the page reads. 

When texted, the number responds with a message from a staff member at the public awareness campaign I Am a Voter, an initiative aimed at ‘creating a cultural shift around voting and civic engagement’. 

Meghan and Harry also shared a text service number, which the website states will help people to find there local polling station. When messaged, the number connects the sender to a representative from ‘I Am a Voter’

‘Hello! So grateful Archewell sent you our way,’ the text response reads. ‘Let’s get you ready to vote. I’m Zoe from “I am a voter” and I’ll make sure you’re ready to vote in future elections.’ 

The message then prompts the sender to reply with their full name in order to receive more assistance.  

Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan’s voter checklist includes tips like ‘check your polling location and hours’, as well as a suggestion to ‘bring snacks, comfortable shoes, and a book or activity in case lines are long’. 

The couple also urged voters to ‘research what is on their ballot’, while reminding people that they are ‘legally allowed to vote’ even if the polls close when they are still in line. 

‘If anyone intimidates or tries to suppress your right to vote, call the voter protection hotline: 866-OUR-VOTE,’ the final item on the list reads.

There are a number of diverse issues on the ballot in the California midterm elections, including abortion rights and online sports betting. 

Meghan – who has previously spoken out to slam the Supreme Court’s decision to reverse Roe v. Wade – will have undoubtedly voted in favor of Prop 1, which prohibits the state from ‘interfering with an individual’s reproductive freedom, including their right to choose to have an abortion and their right to use contraceptives’. 

Voters will also cast their votes for Senator – with Democrat incumbent Alex Padilla going up against GOP candidate Mark Meuser – as well as state Governor, a fight that will see Democrat incumbent Gavin Newsom going head-to-head with GOP rival Brian Dahle. 

Meghan has never publicly aligned herself with the Democratic party, however her outspoken political views are very much in keeping with those held by the left.  

While Meghan cast her vote in the midterm elections, she previously revealed that her husband isn’t allowed to vote.

A page on the Archewell website, simply titled ‘Vote’ has a list of ‘helpful reminders’ for those who are preparing to cast their ballots in the election today

The Sussexes’ favored media contact, Omid Scobie, shared the image of Meghan on his Twitter account, along with a link to the Archewell voter checklist 

Prince Harry is not a US citizen, so cannot take part in US elections, however as a royal, he has also been unable to vote in the UK – meaning that he has never taken part in an election.  

The former Suits star opened up about it during an interview with journalist Emily Ramshaw in August 2020, while discussing whether or not the right to vote is ‘a privilege.’ 

‘I look at my husband [Prince Harry] for example – he’s never been able to vote, and I think it’s such an interesting thing to say the right to vote is not a privilege, it is a right in of itself,’ she said.

The UK government states on its website: ‘Although not prohibited by law, it is considered unconstitutional for the Monarch to vote in an election.’

However, since quitting the royal family in 2020 and moving to the US, the Sussexes have wasted no time in wading into the country’s politics, something that has sparked furious controversy on both sides of the pond. 

This time last year it was revealed that Meghan had been cold calling Republican Senators on their private numbers in order to lobby for paid paternity leave – a move that was met with backlash in the US and the UK. 

Meghan called Republican Sens. Susan Collins from Maine and Shelley Moore Capito from West Virginia, both of whom said they were shocked that the Duchess had called out of the blue and noted that she even used her royal title to lobby for the cause.

Collins told Politico at the time: ‘I was happy to talk with her, but I’m more interested in what people from Maine are telling me about paid leave.’

Meghan’s lobbying calls came after she wrote a letter to the top Democrats directly lobbying them on the issue, and then bought gift cards for Starbucks for workers at an activism group in a high-profile stunt designed to raise awareness of the cause.

As a royal, Harry – who lives in Montecito with Meghan and their children – was not able to vote in UK elections. He’s also not permitted to vote in the US, because he’s not a citizen 

The Duchess wrote a lengthy note to Democrat House Speaker and Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer detailing times in her childhood when she was forced to participate in middle class activities, like getting a job as a teen for gas money and eating at a salad bar, in order to push for the national paid family leave program tucked into Democrats’ budget reconciliation plan for social spending. 

Her letter writing campaign prompted several Republicans to call for Meghan and harry to be stripped of their royal titles, with Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo. telling DailyMail.com: ‘Ms. Markle’s latest interference in U.S. politics reignites the question in my mind as to why the Royal Family does not simply strip her and Harry officially of their titles, particularly since she insists on sending this under the pretense of being the Duchess of Sussex.’

Then, in June, Meghan once again dived into the political pool when she spoke out against the Roe v. Wade reversal during a conversation with friend and activist Gloria Steinem, 88, and journalist Jessica Yellin for Vogue. 

The Duchess of Sussex said all men need to join women in the fight to protect abortion rights, adding that Harry is a feminist, and he reacted with anger to the Supreme Court’s decision. 

She said: ‘My husband and I talked about that a lot over the past few days. He’s a feminist too’ and in an intervention that will be widely perceived to be pro-Democrat, she said: ‘We have to channel that fear into action. We can start this November in the midterms. We have to vote, every time’. 

She also hinted at the time that she was planning to make a trip to Washington, D.C. in order to join the protests against the Supreme Court ruling – although it is unclear whether she actually made the journey. 

However, Meghan made clear that she was seething over the Supreme Court’s decision, telling Steinem: ‘Well, Gloria, it seems as though you and I will be taking a trip to DC together soon.’

Meghan’s political ambitions have long been talked about since she and Harry emigrated from Britain including claims that she would ‘seriously consider’ running for president if her husband dropped his royal title.