Turns Out Caitlyn Jenner Did Vote in the November Election
Caitlyn Jenner told CNN last week that she did not vote in last November's election; but Politico, in a review of her voting record, said Los Angeles County records show that she did.
She didn't vote... until she did. When she was interviewed by CNN's Dana Bash, Caitlyn Jenner said that she didn't vote in last November's election. "I didn't even vote," Jenner told Bash. "Out here in California, it's like, why vote for a Republican president? It's just not going to work. I mean, it's overwhelming."
"It was voting day and I thought the only thing out here in California that I worry about, which affects people, is the propositions that were out there," she said. "And I didn't see any propositions that I really had one side or the other. And so it was Election Day and I just couldn't get excited about it. And I just wound up going to play golf and I said, 'I'm not doing that.' "
But in looking at the California gubernatorial candidate's voting record, Politico writes "Los Angeles County records show she actually did cast a ballot last fall." But by mail. "Jenner did actually vote by mail in the 2020 elections, but she only voted on the ballot propositions and did not vote in the presidential race or other down ballot races, according to a campaign official."
"Politico reported last month that Jenner did not vote in nearly two-thirds of the elections in which she was eligible since 2000. After Jenner's latest comments to CNN aired Tuesday morning, a representative of the registrar's office reconfirmed to Politico that Jenner voted — with documentation."
The former Olympian is one of several prominent Republicans challenging governor Gavin Newsom in the election (likely, but not yet to be called or scheduled). "But because of her lack of experience in politics, Jenner's policy positions are unknown to many California voters -- other than her advocacy for the rights of transgender people and her past support for Trump, which she rescinded in 2018 because she believed his administration enforced policies that were harmful to transgender people," CNN adds.
On Wednesday, CNN reached out to the Jenner campaign for comment about the discrepancy. "A campaign aide told CNN's Maeve Reston that Jenner did vote by mail but weighed in only on the ballot propositions, not on the presidential or other down-ticket races," the news site reports.
"But again," CNN Chris Cillizza adds, "that's not what Jenner told Bash. Which was, again, that 'I didn't see any propositions that I really had one side or the other. And so it was Election Day and I just couldn't get excited about it. And I just wound up going to play golf and I said, 'I'm not doing that.' "
Criticism came from Eric Ting on SFGATE.com, who wrote, "Jenner's campaign told Politico that she only voted in 'some local issues,' since Jenner specifically told CNN she skipped even the statewide ballot measures. It would be surprising for someone hoping to run the state to skip a 2020 ballot measure slate featuring major propositions on affirmative action, exempting businesses like Uber and Lyft from a labor law and property tax increases."
Ting continued: "In the span of less than 48 hours, we've gone from Jenner not voting at all, to Jenner only voting on 'some local issues,' to Jenner voting only on ballot propositions."
Cillizza suggests that Jenner may have simply misspoken. "What Jenner meant to tell Bash was that she couldn't bring herself to vote in the 2020 presidential race, not that she didn't vote at all. Of course, why specifically mention ballot initiatives in the same sentence as saying you didn't vote, if you knew you had cast votes on them last November?"
But, he added, perhaps her gaffe was intentional and Jenner "wanted to really push the idea that she is a political outsider -- and got caught stretching the truth a little too much to make that case."
The fallout, Cillizza suggests, is that Jenner momentum has slowed and he can't figure out why she did it.