Turnout in the 2020 elections was considered historically high, yet a third of the voting-age population did not vote. A significant number of Catholics, estimated as many as 15 million, did not exercise their moral obligation to vote in the last presidential election. A new study estimates up to 32 million Christians attending church regularly will not vote this year.
While the Church does not endorse any candidate for office, Catholics are invited and obligated to participate in the political process. The Gospel calls us to be salt and light in a broken world, and Catholics must answer the call to help renew our nation’s public life.
The Church has taught for centuries that voting and participation in government are our duties as Catholic citizens. The Catechism of the Catholic Church makes clear that “Submission to authority and co-responsibility for the common good make it morally obligatory … to exercise the right to vote.” (CCC 2240)
Human life, marriage, family, and religious freedom are preeminent aspects of the common good for Catholics to consider as they head to the polls. Catholics must study carefully each candidate’s agenda to see whether a candidate, even though he or she espouses morally objectionable programs and policies, will, in some way, limit evil. If a candidate will, at least, limit evil, we must support the limitation while insisting on the need to eradicate it altogether. Can you imagine what our country would look like if every Catholic in America voted and voted with an informed conscience?
Catholics remain one of the largest voting blocs in the country. In 2000, the entire presidential election came down to 500 votes in Florida. That’s smaller than most Catholic parishes. In 2020, the margin of victory was less than 50,000 votes across three states out of over 155 million votes cast. American Catholics make up 52 million of the 1.4 billion Catholics globally. Our votes could be decisive! If 100% of Catholics voted, we would be much more influential in the political process, and our candidates would look more the way we want them to look. That starts with showing up at the polls.
The reason most people don’t vote is because they are too busy, forget, or believe their vote doesn’t matter. But if there is even the smallest ray of hope to effect some change in view of effecting ever greater change for the common good, it is not right for us to fail in responding to the ray of hope. Asked to counsel Catholic voters during the in-flight news conference, Pope Francis said, “Not voting is ugly. It is not good. You must vote.”