WASHINGTON — Pope Leo XIV has voted in the midterm elections despite serving as the head of a foreign country — but don’t bother trying to claim President Trump’s new $1 million voter fraud bounty.
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.
“He’s an American citizen living abroad. 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.
The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act of 1986 lays out the process for Americans living outside US borders.
That law requires states to allow “overseas voters to use absentee registration procedures and to vote by absentee 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. 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.
Leo also holds American and Peruvian citizenship, and the Chicago Sun-Times reported that he requested a mail-in ballot from the Will County clerk’s office Oct. 3, ten days before undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his right lung.
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.”
“Pope Leo XIV has exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen, whenever he was eligible to do so,” the statement said. “In keeping with this long-standing practice of civic participation, he has submitted his mail-in ballot in 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.”
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.
The records do not show which candidates he supported. Illinois voters must declare a party preference to receive a primary ballot.
No such declaration is required in general elections.
While registered in heavily Democratic Cook County, Prevost requested Democratic primary ballots in 2008 and 2010. After moving to the more conservative suburban Will County, he requested Republican primary ballots in 2012, 2014 and 2016.
The records also show that he submitted ballots in every general election since 2000 except those in 2020 and 2022.
The pope’s district is represented in the House by Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.), the son of the late civil rights leader Jesse Jackson.
The younger Jackson is seeking re-election in the safe Democratic district against Republican candidate Christian Maxwell.
Illinois also has a Senate race this year, pitting Democratic Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton against GOP lawyer Don Tracy. Gov. JB Pritzer is seeking a third term against Republican former state Sen. Darren Bailey.
Democrats are expected to take both races by wide margins.
With Post wires
