Hudson & Fournier: Catholic Countdown to Election 2012, Day 16. Catholics Must Vote!

There was one moment, however, when Archbishop Chaput's intensity level hit a fever pitch: "It's a sin if you do not vote in the upcoming election." In the midst of a speech about the importance of the settled, non-negotiable issues at stake in the upcoming election -- life, marriage, religious liberty -- his particular attention to the simple obligation of every adult Catholic to vote was an important reminder about elections: Regardless of the worthiness of one candidate versus another, elections are decided by which side "gets out the vote."

P>WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - On October 14, Archbishop Chaput of Philadelphia stood behind a podium in the gymnasium of St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in Chester Springs, PA. His speech on politics had been eagerly anticipated for weeks, and the 500 people who filled the seats were not disappointed -- the Archbishop was honest, incisive, and uncompromising. 

There was one moment, however, when Archbishop Chaput's intensity level hit a fever pitch: "It's a sin if you do not vote in the upcoming election." In the midst of a speech about the importance of the settled, non-negotiable issues at stake in the upcoming election -- life, marriage, religious liberty -- his particular attention to the simple obligation of every adult Catholic to vote was an important reminder about elections: Regardless of the worthiness of one candidate versus another, elections are decided by which side "gets out the vote."

Catholic voters are considered a key voting group -- not voting bloc!  As 25 percent of the national vote in presidential elections, even a small percentage of Catholic voters who "swing" the other way can change the election outcome. Twenty-five percent is slightly higher than the percentage of Catholics in the nation, which is 22 percent. Usually, Catholics constitute a larger percentage of a state's total vote than their percentage of the population. Such is the case in Pennsylvania where 29 percent of the population is Catholic, but 37 percent of the voters in 2008 were Catholic.

In 2008, 130,000,000 Americans voted, the most ever to vote in a national election. Roughly 32,500,000 of those voters were Catholic.  Using those numbers as a baseline, a 1 percent increase in Catholic voters adds 800,000 votes, a 2 percent increase adds 1,600,000 votes! When you spread these additional votes around the key battleground states of Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida, New Hampshire, and Nevada where Catholics are numerous, the outcome can be changed as a consequence.

Catholics should take advantage of those states where ballots can be cast prior to election day. For example, in Ohio voters can cast their ballots early, on Saturday, Sunday, or Monday without giving a reason for voting early.  The Supreme Court this past Tuesday upheld the change   made in Ohio's election laws brought about by a lawsuit from the Obama campaign and the Ohio Democratic Party.

Ohio is only one of 34 states where early voting is available -- analysts have argued that the Obama campaign's 2008 wins in Ohio, North Carolina, and Florida were the result of an aggressive effort to get out the vote before election day. Thirty percent of Ohio's votes were cast prior to Nov. 7 in 2008.

Perhaps, after looking at these numbers and the role of early voting, we can understand why Archbishop Chaput would use the word "sin" to describe the Catholic who fails to cast his or her vote on November 6, 2012.  Yes, the Catechism of the Catholic Church spells out the obligation of every Catholic "to pay taxes, to exercise the right to vote, and to defend one's country" (CCC #2240), but there is also the fact recognized by every political scientist that Catholic voters determine who becomes our president and who does not.

Of course, it's not accurate theologically to argue that the impact of U.S. Catholic voters makes the sin of not voting even more sinful. We could put it a different way, however, and say, along with the Archbishop, that for a Catholic not to vote is a "sin". It is, to use one helpful explanation of sin in the Catholic Catechism, an "abuse of freedom". (CCC #1731 - 1748). In the context of America's political landscape it's an irresponsible failure to help determine what the country will be like in 10, 20, 50, or 100 years from now.

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