Am I required to vote?

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anon82300119

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I’m not Catholic yet, but working on it. One thing I wondered was about voting. I haven’t voted in years. There are no candidates who I can support in good conscience. However, I thought I read in the Catechism that Catholics are obligated to exercise their right to vote. Is this so? And if so, can I satisfy that obligation by writing in a candidate, even though he/she has no chance of winning?
 
Instead of voting for someone on the ticket you write in whoever you want to vote for, like Mickey mouse. Here in US that is perfectly legal.
 
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Nope we can’t legally Mickey Mouse a vote. Our vote either becomes not valid or the vote automatically goes to one party depending on a few circumstances, if we stuff up our vote.

It’s better to just vote for the lesser of the political evils running here, so to speak
 
jaygunther said:
I’m not Catholic yet, but working on it. One thing I wondered was about voting. I haven’t voted in years. There are no candidates who I can support in good conscience. However, I thought I read in the Catechism that Catholics are obligated to exercise their right to vote. Is this so? And if so, can I satisfy that obligation by writing in a candidate, even though he/she has no chance of winning?
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This is what the US Conference of Catholic Bishops has to say about it:

When all candidates hold a position that promotes an intrinsically evil act, the conscientious voter faces a dilemma. The voter may decide to take the extraordinary step of not voting for any candidate or, after careful deliberation, may decide to vote for the candidate deemed less likely to advance such a morally flawed position and more likely to pursue other authentic human goods.

according to them, you may vote for no one under certain circumstances

 
jaygunther said:
Thank you. That is helpful.
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I guess the question then becomes what makes each candidate specifically unsupportable. Do they hold positions against catholic teaching, or do they hold positions against your personal “taste”

(you don’t have to answer, I just thought I’d give you something to think about)

peace
 
Maybe both. I don’t know. I’m new to Catholicism so I can’t say for sure.
 
It’s a saying in politics, it’s not meaning to vote for evil. It’s meaning, because we have to vote, if I don’t like any of them, I will find the most in step with my views. It’s always a compromise though, unless tony abbot is running.

As Stephen-says has posted
 
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Never sit out an election. When you do your vote will be looked at ,by the winner, as a vote for "all ". Not as you intend “none”. The only way for your vote to count as “none” is to vote third party or write in.
 
Roseeurekacross said:
It’s a saying in politics, it’s not meaning to vote for evil.
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Yes, we use that saying in the USA as well. I understand what it means. You are in a different situation there than we are here. I have voted a few times, but only because I felt a desire to express my objections to all of the viable candidates by writing in one of my own. Since government has become so powerful (contrary to our Constitution), voting for an evil candidate IS voting for evil, in my opinion. From what I do know of Catholicism, I wonder how any good Catholic could have voted for either of the two main candidates in the last presidential election.
 
I read that Michelle Obama is going to run for 2020. Not sure if it’s accurate

In our system we have to give or number preferences. Ist to last. It’s a pita
 
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I always vote, not so much due to Church teaching but because when people in the past fought, died, were imprisoned, and generally sacrificed a lot so I could have the right to vote, I feel strongly that I should. Usually there are many things to vote about on the ballot and only one or two “difficult” issues like Presidential candidates. I usually just vote third party if I don’t like either candidate, as the third party candidates in USA have absolutely no chance of winning. I voted for Ross Perot 2 separate times and John Anderson once. This last election was a doozy though as the third party candidates were just awful.
 
My wife wrote in Rand Paul. I stayed home. The last time I voted was for Ron Paul in the 2008 primaries.
 
My husband wanted to just not vote. I told him to do what he had to do, but it’s really out of character for him to not vote, as he considers it a civic duty. I told him I thought writing someone in would be better than just not voting. Eventually after thinking about it he was able to arrive at someone he could in good conscience vote for.
 
jaygunther said:
My wife wrote in Rand Paul. I stayed home. The last time I voted was for Ron Paul in the 2008 primaries.
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Big fan of your wife right now 👍👍
jaygunther said:
Maybe both. I don’t know. I’m new to Catholicism so I can’t say for sure.
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I think the issue of voting/not voting is a struggle that a lot of us have from time to time. I say your #1 priority now is becoming Catholic and forming your conscience well, and then when the time comes you will have a good base to support your decision.

Peace
 
You’re right, the Catechism does say that we are morally bound to vote:
2239 It is the duty of citizens to contribute along with the civil authorities to the good of society in a spirit of truth, justice, solidarity, and freedom. The love and service of one’s country follow from the duty of gratitude and belong to the order of charity. Submission to legitimate authorities and service of the common good require citizens to fulfill their roles in the life of the political community.

2240 Submission to authority and co-responsibility for the common good make it morally obligatory to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote, and to defend one’s country:

Pay to all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.
[Christians] reside in their own nations, but as resident aliens. They participate in all things as citizens and endure all things as foreigners. . . . They obey the established laws and their way of life surpasses the laws. . . . So noble is the position to which God has assigned them that they are not allowed to desert it.
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Writing in Mickey’s name is not voting in the true sense, it is coping out.
 
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