Pope Leo XIV requested a mail ballot for Illinois' November 3 midterm election, potentially putting the head of the Catholic Church on course to become the first pope known to cast a vote in a secular election while serving as pontiff. The Will County Clerk's Office disclosed that the pope, born Robert Francis Prevost, requested a vote-by-mail ballot on October 3. He remains a registered voter at a New Lenox, Illinois, address despite now leading the world's 1.4 billion Catholics from Vatican City.
It's not known whether the ballot has been returned. "'Robert Francis Prevost is on the list of individuals who requested a vote by mail ballot for the upcoming election,'" Kim Fladhammer, chief of staff for the Will County Clerk's Office, told the Chicago Sun-Times. More than 20 million Americans and 1.16 million Illinois residents have voted early already.
Any registered Illinois voter can vote by mail, including citizens living abroad under election law. Newsweek reached out to Will County election officials for comment. The pope's ballot is expected to include the Illinois U.S.
Senate race to replace retiring Senator Dick Durbin, the reelection campaign of Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and various other Will County contests. Public records cited by the Sun-Times show Leo has voted in both Republican and Democratic primary elections in Illinois over the years, including Democratic primaries in 2008 and 2010 and Republican primaries in 2012, 2014 and 2016. Illinois does not require voters to register with a political party.
He also voted in multiple general elections, including in 2024, according to the report. This would be his first major election since becoming pope last year. Leo, the first American-born pope, has at times been at odds with President Donald Trump and some Republican officials over immigration policy and foreign affairs, particularly the war in Iran, although the Vatican has generally avoided direct involvement in U.S. electoral politics.
In April, Trump criticized the pope as "weak on crime and terrible for foreign policy," with the pontiff responding that he had "no fear" of the Trump administration. Leo has strongly condemned the conflict in the Middle East and the "delusion of omnipotence" that caused it, saying this had led to "absurd and inhuman violence." The pope remembered to request a ballot just before he underwent surgery earlier this month to remove a portion of his lung, which was found to have cancer. Leo will not need further cancer treatment following surgery to remove a tumor from his right lung, the Vatican said, after final tests confirmed it was a localized lung adenocarcinoma.
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