Meghan Markle Speaks Out On Election: 'If You Don't Vote, You're Complicit'

Royals don’t typically speak publicly about politics, but Meghan Markle is urging people to vote this year

Meghan Markle is using her voice to let everyone know how important it is for all of our voices to be heard this year when it comes to the election. The Duchess of Sussex helped kick off the “When All Women Vote” virtual hangout, an event aimed at increasing voter turnout in people of all backgrounds and ages.

While it’s not typical for royals to speak publicly on matters of politics, voting itself is partisan. And if anyone knows the power of using your platform, it’s just-moved-back-to-California-and-ready-to-get-to-work Meghan Markle. She began by talking about what it means to vote in the upcoming election, remembering the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, voter suppression and the importance of being an active voter.

“When I think about voting and why this is so exceptionally important for all of us, I would frame it as ‘We vote to honor those who came before us and to protect who will come after us,’” the duchess said. “Because that’s what community is all about. And that is specifically what this election is all about.”

The event was organized by the United States of Women and When We All Vote, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization first launched by Michelle Obama in 2018 with celebrity co-chairs Lin-Manuel Miranda, Janelle Monae, Tom Hanks, Chris Paul, Faith Hill, and Tim McGraw.

With less than 75 days until election day here in the U.S., Meghan stressed that it’s time to get to work. “It feels so very close,” she noted. “And yet there’s so much work to be done in that amount of time because we all know what’s at stake this year.”

She urged voters to channel our energy and mobilize to do what we can to fight voter suppression and make sure people are registered and ready to vote. This week marked the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which guaranteed the right to vote to white women — whose right to vote wasn’t solidified until 1965 through the Voting Rights Act.

“As we look at things today, though it had taken decades longer for women to get the right to vote ― even today we are watching so many women in different communities who are marginalized still struggling to see that right come to fruition,” Meghan said. “Voter suppression is all the more reason we need each of you to be out there supporting each other and understand that this fight is worth fighting.”

Making sure people we know are registered to vote and getting them to the polls is critical, according to Meghan. It’s not enough to just tell people to vote, we have to work to make sure people have all the resources they need to do it.

“We can and must do everything we can to ensure that all women have their voices heard. Because at this juncture, if we aren’t part of the solution, we are part of the problem,” she said. “If you’re not going out there and voting, then you’re complicit. If you’re complacent, you’re complicit.”