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Why Pope Leo is legally allowed to vote in US election — despite being leader of Vatican City

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Cite

Nelson, S. (2026, October 30). Why Pope Leo is legally allowed to vote in US election — despite being leader of Vatican City. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2026/10/30/us-news/why-pope-leo-was-legally-allowed-to-vote-in-us-election-despite-being-leader-of-vatican-city/

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New York Post · collected 2026-10-30 · by Steven Nelson

Quick Summary

Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago, remains registered to vote at his brother’s address in New Lenox, Illinois. Voting rights expert Richard Hasen confirms that US citizens abroad retain their voting rights through the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986. Since 2000, Pope Leo has participated in five primary elections, requesting Democratic ballots twice and Republican ballots three times, according to Illinois election records. The article highlights how Vatican City’s citizenship rules do not affect Prevost’s status as an American citizen eligible for voting.
Written by AI on 2026-10-30, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago, Illinois, has become the first pope in history to vote in a US election. On October 3, he requested an absentee ballot from Will County, Illinois, and submitted it by mail ahead of the November 3 midterm elections. The Vatican confirmed this development on Friday, citing Pope Leo's long-standing belief in civic participation. Pope Leo, who is registered to vote at his brother’s address in New Lenox, was elected as the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in May 2026 and has maintained ties with his birthplace despite leading the Vatican City, an independent state since 1929 without political elections.

Written for “Pope Leo Votes In US Midterms” on 2026-10-30, grounded in this article and the 13 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political question, so it has no leaning score. That is an answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political position.
No political leaning scored for article 117734 · logged 2026-10-30

Story

📰 Pope Leo Votes In US Midterms
Politics · 14 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 9% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Fox News
Hedges 0 of 18 claims Outlet record 70/100
The Independent
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 5 of 13 claims Outlet record 59/100
The Straits Times
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 0 of 10 claims Outlet record 66/100
“While both articles discuss Pope Leo voting in the midterm elections, Article A focuses on the act of casting his ballot and the context around it, whereas Article B explains why he is legally allowed to vote despite being the leader of Vatican City.”
ABC News (US)
Hedges 0 of 6 claims Outlet record 70/100
“While both articles discuss Pope Leo XIV voting in a U.S. election, Article A focuses on the historical significance and confirmation of the vote, while Article B explains the legal framework allowing him to do so despite being leader of Vatican City.”
CBS News
Hedges 2 of 18 claims Outlet record 66/100
“While both articles discuss Pope Leo voting in a U.S. election, they do not describe the exact same incident or occurrence; Article A focuses on confirmation and context of his right to vote, while Article B explains the legal framework allowing him to do so.”
The Straits Times
Hedges 1 of 14 claims Outlet record 66/100
“Article A reports on Pope Leo casting his ballot in the US midterm elections, while Article B explains why he is legally allowed to vote as an American citizen residing abroad. Although related, they describe different aspects and do not confirm the same specific event.”
BBC News
Hedges 3 of 14 claims Outlet record 69/100
“While both articles discuss Pope Leo XIV voting in a U.S. election, Article A reports on the actual act of voting and its historical significance, while Article B explains the legal framework that allows him to vote despite being the leader of Vatican City.”
Daily Mail
⚖️ Leans strongly left Hedges 1 of 21 claims Outlet record 68/100
“While both articles discuss Pope Leo voting in a U.S. election, Article A focuses on his act of voting and his stance against President Trump, while Article B explains why he is legally allowed to vote despite being the leader of Vatican City.”
NBC News
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 2 of 21 claims Outlet record 60/100
“Article A reports on Pope Leo's request for an absentee ballot, while Article B explains the legal framework allowing him to vote despite living abroad.”
Washington Examiner
Hedges 1 of 4 claims Outlet record 70/100
“The articles discuss the legal ability and process of Pope Leo XIV voting in U.S. elections but do not confirm reporting on the exact same moment or incident.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
22
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
9%
2 of 22 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
66/100
New York Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
14
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-30 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

New York Post · 15307 article(s) · 35 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 35 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Steven Nelson
47 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 After moving to the more conservative suburban Will County, he requested Republican primary ballots in 2012, 2014 and 2016.
🔮 Vance announced last month that 750,000 enrollees would be booted from Obamacare for suspected fraudulent enrollment, with another 450,000 put under review.
🔮 President Trump has publicly said that he may renew attacks on Iran following the election. We may do another little Epic Fury,” Trump said at a Friday rally in Fort Myers, Fla.
🔮 “Anybody reporting Voter Fraud in the past Elections, or the upcoming 2026 Midterm Election, will be paid $1,000,000 upon the arrest and conviction of those that created the Fraud!” Trump wrote in a social media post shortly before departing the White House for a pre-midterms rally in Mississippi.
🔮 LaCivita, who co-led Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, and Blair, who served as a deputy chief of staff at the White House until May, likely will still have to pay income taxes on the revenue, which sources said was more than $100,000 apiece. Trump had raged earlier this month after the New York Times reported that the duo, who hold top roles at the MAGA Inc super pac, had taken a trip to back a political party in the ethnically Serbian Republika Srpska, where they advised the victorious ruling party, led by Milorad Dodik, in the region’s election.
🔮 The president asked Musk to reverse any changes that may have slowed Starshield, a military version of Starlink, impeding Ukraine’s war drones and battlefield communications.
🔮 But I will tell you, when he was investigated the next year, we forbade him from working with youth or children anymore.
🔮 The White House counsel’s office has been investigating Grenell for allegedly failing to provide the money to the center — after Mildon’s new bride, Alina Habba, directly told Trump during an Oct. 9 Oval Office meeting that her husband was duped into providing the funds. “Once the money comes to the company here, I will arrange the donation to Kennedy Centre [sic], and you’ll be joining the VIP events and get close with the administration, even with POTUS,” Grenell allegedly wrote to Mildon in a May 3, 2025, text message first reported by Axios.
🔮 By Friday, President Trump said publicly Zacharia wasn’t right for the role, advising that “you don’t need this” before she suddenly ended what may have been the shortest tenure of any White House press secretary.
🔮 President Trump sought to put to rest two days of speculation that he might replace White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, saying Friday there is “zero chance” of her firing and that Wiles is “going to be here for a long time.”
Also by Steven Nelson
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 47 articles by Steven Nelson →

Topics

Chicago Democratic Illinois Republican Vatican City

Subjects

Democratic NORP · 5× Republican NORP · 4× Illinois GPE · 3× Chicago GPE · 2× Leo PERSON · 2× Vatican City GPE · 2× John PERSON · 1× New Lenox GPE · 1× Robert Francis Prevost PERSON · 1× The Post ORG · 1×

Narrative

Overseas voters must cast ballots for offices “in the last place in which the person was domiciled before leaving the United States.” Vatican City has been recognized as an independent state since 1929, and functions as an absolute monarchy without political elections.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-30
🔮 After moving to the more conservative suburban Will County, he requested Republican primary ballots in 2012, 2014 and 2016.

Claims (22 extracted, 2 hedged)

Leo, 71, was born Robert Francis Prevost in Chicago on Sept. 14, 1955, and online Illinois records reviewed by The Post show that he’s registered to vote at his older brother John’s address in suburban New Lenox. asserted
he → bear → Lenox
“He’s an American citizen living abroad. asserted
He → ’ → ?
He didn’t lose his voting rights when he moved to the Vatican,” said Richard Hasen, a voting rights expert at the UCLA School of Law. asserted
Hasen → lose → Law
The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986 lays out the process for Americans living outside US borders. asserted
Act → lay → borders
That law requires states to allow “overseas voters to use absentee registration procedures and to vote by absentee ballot.” asserted
voters → require → ballot
Overseas voters must cast ballots for offices “in the last place in which the person was domiciled before leaving the United States.” Vatican City has been recognized as an independent state since 1929, and functions as an absolute monarchy without political elections. asserted
City → cast → elections
Unlike other nations, which mainly grant citizenship based on where or to whom a person was born, Vatican City grants citizenship by application — and only the pope holds the privilege for life. asserted
pope → grant → life
It is unclear when the ballot was returned, but the Vatican press office confirmed Friday that Leo had a “belief in the right and the duty of citizens to participate in democratic processes.” uncertain
Leo → return → processes
“Pope Leo XIV has exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen, whenever he was eligible to do so,” the statement said. asserted
statement → exercise → citizen
“In keeping with this long-standing practice of civic participation, he has submitted his mail-in ballot in Chicago.” asserted
he → keep → Chicago
“The Holy Father has also confirmed that, during his years of residence in Peru he exercised his right to vote whenever he was eligible to do so.” asserted
he → confirm → right
Since 2000, the former Robert Prevost has voted in five primary elections, requesting Democratic ballots twice and Republican ballots three times, according to records held by the Illinois State Board of Elections. uncertain
Prevost → vote → Elections
The records do not show which candidates he supported. asserted
he → show → candidates
Illinois voters must declare a party preference to receive a primary ballot. asserted
voters → declare → ballot
No such declaration is required in general elections. asserted
declaration → require → elections
While registered in heavily Democratic Cook County, Prevost requested Democratic primary ballots in 2008 and 2010. asserted
Prevost → register → 2008
After moving to the more conservative suburban Will County, he requested Republican primary ballots in 2012, 2014 and 2016. asserted
he → move → 2012
The records also show that he submitted ballots in every general election since 2000 except those in 2020 and 2022. asserted
he → show → 2020
The younger Jackson is seeking re-election in the safe Democratic district against Republican candidate Christian Maxwell. asserted
Jackson → seek → Maxwell
Illinois also has a Senate race this year, pitting Democratic Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton against GOP lawyer Don Tracy. asserted
Illinois → have → Tracy
Gov. JB Pritzer is seeking a third term against Republican former state Sen. Darren Bailey. asserted
Pritzer → seek → Bailey
Democrats are expected to take both races by wide margins. asserted
Democrats → expect → margins
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