Pope Leo XIV Becomes the First Pope to Vote in a U.S. Election, Casting a Chicago Mail Ballot
The Vatican confirmed Friday that the Chicago-born pope submitted a mail-in ballot in Chicago ahead of the midterm elections - a first for a pontiff, and a reminder that mail voting is how millions of Americans, New Jerseyans included, are casting this year's ballots.
Pope Leo XIV has made a small piece of American electoral history. The Vatican confirmed on Friday that the Chicago-born pope submitted a mail-in ballot in Chicago ahead of the November midterm elections, the Associated Press reported - making him the first pontiff to cast a ballot in a U.S. election.
The ballot is an absentee one, cast from Rome into the same kind of mail-voting system that election officials in Illinois, New Jersey and every other state are processing by the millions this weekend. Nationally, early voting has already passed the 2022 midterm record, with 49.6 million early ballots reported by Friday evening - a total New Jersey has added to with more than 950,000 advance ballots of its own.
For New Jersey mail voters, the mechanics the pope's ballot just used are the ones on this state's calendar: a completed ballot goes into a secure drop box or to the county board of elections by 8 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3, or through the mail postmarked by November 3. In-person early voting in New Jersey ends Sunday at 6 p.m., and Election Day polls are open 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
