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Pope Leo XIV requests mail ballot to vote in U.S. midterms
Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV has requested a mail ballot for the Nov. 3 midterm elections in Will County, Illinois. If he returns it, he would be the first sitting pope to vote in a U.S. election.
Pope Leo XIV, the first American pope, has requested a mail ballot to vote in Illinois in the Nov. 3 midterm elections, the Chicago Sun-Times first reported and NBC News confirmed. If he casts it, he would become the first sitting pope to vote in a U.S. election.
"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 at the Will County Clerk's Office, told the Sun-Times. The pope, born Robert Francis Prevost, is registered at an address in New Lenox, Illinois, where his older brother John Prevost lives. He requested the ballot on Oct. 3, and it was sent from Joliet to Vatican City.
The clerk's office told NBC News it had not yet received a completed ballot from the pope, and it is unclear whether he has filled it out or mailed it. The Vatican has not commented.
Senate and governor races on the ballot
Leo's ballot includes the race for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Dick Durbin, the governor's race in which Gov. JB Pritzker is seeking reelection, and Will County judicial and county contests. "There is no such thing as an absentee ballot in Illinois law anymore," said Matt Dietrich, a spokesman for the Illinois State Board of Elections, noting that any registered Illinois voter can vote by mail.
Public records show Prevost voted in Democratic primaries in 2008 and 2010, Republican primaries in 2012, 2014 and 2016, and general elections in 2012, 2014, 2018 and 2024. He did not vote in Illinois' March 2026 primary. Illinois voters do not register by party.
Recovering from surgery
The 71-year-old pontiff, who was born in Chicago and grew up in Dolton, returned to the Vatican on Oct. 18, four days after part of his right lung was removed in surgery that confirmed lung adenocarcinoma. He has gradually resumed public duties, including his weekly general audience.
Leo has clashed with President Donald Trump over the Iran war, immigration enforcement and Venezuela, and has criticized mass deportations and family separation. "I'm not afraid of the Trump administration," he told reporters aboard the papal plane to Algeria, according to The Associated Press.
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