Pope Leo XIV Requests Mail Ballot Today in Historic First for a Sitting Pope

Somewhere between Joliet, Illinois, and Vatican City, a single envelope is carrying nearly 2,000 years of history. Pope Leo XIV, the Chicago-born pontiff who now leads the Catholic Church from Rome, has asked for a mail-in ballot for the United States midterm elections — and if he sends it back, he will be the first sitting pope ever known to cast a vote in an election.

The request was confirmed on Thursday 29 October 2026 by the Will County clerk's office, as first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times. Kim Fladhammer, chief of staff for the Will County clerk, told the newspaper that "Robert Francis Prevost is on the list of individuals who requested a vote by mail ballot for the upcoming election," using the Pope's birth name.

Leo made the request on 3 October, a month before Election Day on 3 November. He remains a registered voter in Will County, Illinois, at an address in New Lenox, a Chicago suburb, even though he now lives in Vatican City and holds Peruvian citizenship too.

That last detail matters more than it first appears. No reigning pope is known to have voted in any nation's civil election during his papacy, according to the reporting, and Leo's American citizenship makes this moment possible in a way no previous pontificate could offer. He became the first American pope when he was elected in May 2025, and now he may become the first voting pope as well.

Robert Francis Prevost is on the list of individuals who requested a vote by mail ballot for the upcoming election.

Fladhammer gave that confirmation to the Chicago Sun-Times, and NBC News' Chicago affiliate separately confirmed with the clerk's office that the completed ballot had not yet been recieved as of 29 October. That distinction is important, and this story does not go beyond it: a request is not a vote, and the record so far shows a request.

What happens next is a matter of days and distance: the ballot travels from Illinois to the Vatican, where Leo would complete it, and must make its way back to Will County in time to be counted, and The Times reported that Fladhammer told NBC News the Pope faces a shrinking window before the 3 November election.

The ballot request follows a crowded week for the Chicago-born pontiff, from the Costa Rican president's invitation for a papal visit to the Vatican's new popemobile exhibition.

Pope Leo XIV Illinois Ballot: What Is on the Ballot

The 3 November midterm elections will decide seats in the US Congress along with state and local offices. In Illinois, the ballot includes the US Senate race for the seat being vacated by Dick Durbin and Governor JB Pritzker's re-election bid, as well as races for the US House of Representatives and county and judicial posts.

Illinois law makes the mechanics straightforward. Any registered voter in the state can choose to cast a ballot by mail, and Illinois voters do not register by party, so they can choose either party's ballot in a primary. For Americans living abroad, the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act protects the right to vote by mail from overseas.

Leo's voting record in Will County is a matter of public record, as reported by ABC News, NBC News and the Chicago Sun-Times. County records show he cast general-election ballots in 2012, 2014, 2018 and 2024, and took ballots in both parties' primaries across those years. He did not vote in Illinois' March 2026 primary, the reporting confirms.

That history is part of why this story landed so hard. This is not a man discovering the ballot box for the first time. It is a lifelong voter who kept his registration active through decades abroad, including years as a missionary and bishop in Peru, and who now finds himself in the one office on earth where voting has never been done.

First Sitting Pope to Vote: Why the Moment Matters

For two millennia, popes have been monarchs, diplomats, prisoners, and exiles, but never voters in a secular election while in office — previous popes were Italian or European subjects of kingdoms and republics, and none is recorded as casting a ballot as pontiff.

Leo's case is different because his citizenship never lapsed. He was born in Chicago, lived in the United States before moving to Peru in 2015, and remains a US citizen alongside his Peruvian citizenship, as the Catholic Telegraph reported. His brother John lives in New Lenox, the same town as his registered address, and was in Rome this week, according to Letters from Leo, which first confirmed the request with the clerk's office independently of the Sun-Times.

Whether the ballot comes back is still an open question, and the reporting is careful about it. Neither the Vatican nor the family has said publicly whether Leo has completed and returned the ballot, and the clerk's office had not recieved it as of 29 October. The story, for now, is the request itself.

Readers following Pope Leo's remarkable autumn can find the context in the report of Costa Rica's president inviting him to visit after more than 40 years, and Jonathan Roumie's explanation of why he wears skull rings almost every day offers another window into the public face of the faith this month.

For now, one envelope is travelling across an ocean, and a clerk's office in Joliet is watching its inbox. If that envelope comes back filled in and on time, a quiet administrative act will become a footnote in history: the first time a sitting pope voted.

Will the ballot arrive in time, and will the world learn that the Bishop of Rome cast a vote like any other citizen of Illinois? The answer is sealed inside an envelope that has not yet come home.

But the most surprising part of this story is yet to come — keep reading.