Pope Leo XIV is poised to make history by becoming the first sitting pontiff in the Catholic Church’s approximately 2,000-year history to participate in a secular national election, following his reported request for a mail-in ballot ahead of the November 3, United States midterm elections.
The Will County Clerk’s Office disclosed that the pope requested a vote-by-mail ballot on October 3, where 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 is said more than 20 million Americans and 1.16 million Illinois residents have voted early already and any registered Illinois voter can vote by mail, including citizens living abroad under election law.
Since his election to become the Pope, he has not returned to the United States, but he has made numerous statements pertaining to politics in his home country, occasionally drawing the ire of President Donald Trump in the process.
Public records 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.
This would be his first major election since becoming pope last year.
