When All Women Vote: Meghan Markle to join event encouraging marginalised women to vote ahead of US election

Virtual summit to ‘highlight the need to expand voting rights for marginalised communities’

The Duchess of Sussex is taking part in a “virtual couch party” to encourage voting ahead of the US presidential election.

On Thursday, Meghan will join the online “When All Women Vote” event as a special guest.

The When We All Vote organisation, which is hosting the event, announced the news on Twitter, writing: “We are SO excited to announce that Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex is joining the #WhenAllWomenVote Couch Party.”

The Duchess, who is currently living in Santa Barbara, will take part in the event alongside alongside Glamour editor-in-chief Samantha Berry, actor Yvette Nicole Brown, businesswoman Valerie Jarrett and DJ Diamond Kuts.

On its website, the organisation says the virtual summit will “honour the 19th Amendment, celebrate the women of colour who have fought to make the promise of the 19th Amendment a reality for ALL women, and highlight the need to expand voting rights for marginalised communities.”

The event is expected to include a host of special guests, fun activities and training on how to use the texting tool, OutVote, which allows people to text their friends with reminders to vote.

When “We All Vote” is a non-profit, non-partisan organisation that aims to increase participation in every election and “close the race and age voting gap by changing the culture around voting, harnessing grassroots energy, and through strategic partnerships to reach every American”.

The initiative was launched in 2018 by several co-chairs including Michelle Obama, Tom Hanks, Tracee Ellis Ross, Kerry Washington and Rita Wilson.

Meghan has previously suggested she will use her vote in the US election in November.

“I know what it’s like to have a voice, and also what it’s like to feel voiceless,” she told Marie Claire.

“I also know that so many men and women have put their lives on the line for us to be heard.

“And that opportunity, that fundamental right, is in our ability to exercise our right to vote and to make all of our voices heard.”

Members of the royal family traditionally do not vote, and the Queen is politically neutral.

Although UK law does not ban royalty from voting, it is considered unconstitutional for them to do so.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex quit their roles as a senior working royals in March and now live in the US with their son Archie, although they still remain members of the royal family.

Speaking to The 19th online news site last week, Meghan encouraged Americans to register to vote and remarked about Harry: “My husband, for example. He’s never been able to vote, and I think it’s such an interesting thing to say that the right to vote is not a privilege, it’s a right in and of itself.”