Pope Leo XIV Votes in US Midterms by Mail
Left 33%
Center 17%
Right 50%
4 left · 2 center · 6 right
What happened
Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago and elected the first American pope in May 2025, remains a registered U.S. voter in New Lenox, Illinois, and did not renounce his citizenship after taking office in Vatican City. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that he requested a mail-in ballot from the Will County clerk’s office on Oct. 3, days before surgery in Rome to remove a cancerous lung tumor; the Vatican later confirmed he submitted the ballot for the Nov. 3 U.S. midterm elections, becoming the first sitting pope known to vote in a U.S. general election. The Holy See press office said he “has exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen, whenever he was eligible to do so,” including while living in Peru, and that he believes in “the right and the duty of citizens to participate in democratic processes.” Illinois records show he has voted in multiple prior general elections and has requested both Democratic and Republican primary ballots over the past two decades.
Sourcing check · Mostly on the record · 12 articles
10 of 12 articles cite a named source for the story. It was on the record from the first report.
What these terms mean and how they're counted
- On the record · names a source 10 of 12
- On the record means the article cites a source by name for the story's main claim: a person, or an institution speaking officially, such as a company statement or a named agency's spokesperson. The opposite is an unnamed source. The count is how many of the counted articles cite at least one such source; the names are everyone named across them, each once however the articles spell it. Here: Will County Clerk’s Office, Holy See press office, Chicago Sun-Times, Illinois State Board of Elections, Kim Fladhammer and Matt Dietrich
- Primary evidence · cites a document or data 1 of 12
- Primary evidence means the article cites a record you could check yourself: a court filing or ruling, a dataset or report, a recording or transcript, an official statement or press release, market data. A quote is not a document. The count is how many articles cite one. Here: official statement, election records
- Credits another outlet 1 of 12
- The article says the story comes from another outlet's reporting (“first reported by Reuters”). Those articles relay the story; they are not independent confirmation. Here: TMZ
- Unnamed sources 0 of 12
- The main claim is attributed to people who are not identified: “people familiar with the matter”, “officials said”. The count is how many articles do this.
- How it developed
- When the first report landed and whether it named anyone; when the first named source and the first document appeared. Here: First report Oct 30, 01:37 UTC by Breitbart, naming its source. First document 12 hours later, from ABC News (official statement).
- Not counted 0
- Opinion, analysis and video pieces, and articles too short to assess. Every count above is out of the counted articles. An article republished under a new headline is one article.
This is about who is cited, not whether the story is true. Each source below says what it names. How we count
Omitted — what each side leaves out
Unpacked
Left-leaning coverage never explains the law that lets a sitting pope, as head of a foreign state, cast a U.S. ballot. Right-leaning coverage does: the New York Post lays out that Americans living abroad vote in the last place they lived before leaving the country, and Breitbart notes that Leo never gave up his U.S. citizenship. A reader of only left-leaning coverage gets the historic first without the eligibility mechanics.
Left-leaning coverage pairs the ballot with Leo's fight with Trump; right-leaning coverage mostly does not. The same fight shows up as Trump calling the pope "WEAK on crime" in NBC News, while Fox News never mentions the clash and stays on the mail-in confirmation.
None of the stories ask whether a pope who heads an absolute monarchy should be casting a partisan ballot in another country's midterms.
Bottom line
BBC and NBC stories never mention the 1986 overseas-voting law; the New York Post builds its piece around why that law still lets the pope vote from Vatican City.
The receipts — 3 facts one side's coverage lacks
- The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act requires states to let U.S. citizens living overseas vote by absentee ballot.
- Illinois no longer requires an excuse to vote by mail; any registered voter may do so.
- Vatican City functions as an absolute monarchy without political elections.
The Left View
Left-leaning outlets treated the ballot as a historic civic act by a pope who has publicly opposed Trump administration immigration enforcement and the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran. They foregrounded Trump’s earlier description of Leo as “WEAK on crime” and “terrible for Foreign Policy,” Leo’s reply that he had “no fear of the Trump administration,” and Vice President JD Vance’s warning that Leo should “be careful” when talking about theology. BBC tied the midterms to control of Congress in “the final years of Donald Trump’s presidency,” and NBC noted that the Illinois races on his ballot are “solidly blue.” Coverage presents the Vatican’s “right and the duty” language as the official meaning of the vote, with the feud with Trump as the reason it drew national attention.
The Right View
Right-leaning outlets emphasized legality over symbolism: the New York Post explained that as an American living abroad he retains voting rights under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act and joked that readers should not try to claim “President Trump’s new $1 million voter fraud bounty.” Fox News and Breitbart stressed that Illinois no longer requires an excuse for mail ballots. Daily Wire highlighted his mixed Democratic and Republican primary requests and described his House district as “Solid D” in a state Princeton’s Gerrymandering Project rated an “F” for favoring Democrats. They relayed the Vatican’s civic-duty language as meaning the ballot is not a party or candidate endorsement, and Breitbart initially noted that local clerks had not yet confirmed return of a completed ballot.
Our Take (balanced)
The left’s strongest argument is contextual: the first papal vote in a U.S. election lands amid a documented public clash in which Trump called Leo “WEAK on crime” and Leo said he would keep preaching peace, so those outlets treat the ballot as more than a routine overseas vote. The right’s strongest argument is legal and structural: U.S. law expressly preserves ballots for citizens abroad, his primary record is bipartisan, the Vatican framed the act as civic duty rather than an endorsement, and one vote in a heavily Democratic Illinois district changes little. The central unresolved tension is whether the story’s significance is a moral-political signal from a pope at odds with the White House, or an ordinary exercise of citizenship whose partisan weight both sides are tempted to inflate.
12 sources
- Pope Leo requested an absentee ballot in Illinois to vote in the midterms
- Pope Leo XIV has become the first pope in history to vote in a US election
- Pope Leo XIV becomes first pontiff to vote in a US election
- Leo XIV becomes first pope ever to vote in US general election
- Report: Pope Leo XIV Requested a Mail-In Ballot for the Illinois Midterm Elections
- Illinois Man Casts Mail-In Ballot. He Happens To Be The Pope.
- Vatican Confirms Pope Leo ‘Exercised His Right to Vote’ in U.S. Midterms; Pope Affirms ‘Duty of Citizens to Participate in Democratic Processes’
- Pope Leo makes history in US election with move confirmed by Vatican
- Why Pope Leo is legally allowed to vote in US election — despite being leader of Vatican City
- Pope Leo XIV Makes History As First Pope To Vote In US Election
- Pope Leo becomes first pontiff to vote in a U.S. election
- Pope Leo XIV becomes first pope to vote in U.S. election
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