As U.S. citizens, our most important duty is to vote. In 2024, Maryland voters will choose a new President and Vice President, eight congressional representatives, and judges of the state Supreme Court, appellate court and Circuit Court. Voters in Montgomery County will also choose new Board of Education members. The Maryland General Election will be held on Tuesday, November 5.  

• Register to vote or update your name, address, and party affiliation on October 15.
• Find out your voter registration status and polling place.
• Read the Candidate Survey Responses for the 2024 general election compiled by the Maryland Catholic Conference.
• Request a mail-in ballot through October 29, 2024. 
• Any registered voter may vote by mail-in ballot. You may request a mail-in ballot online or by downloading a paper form, filling it out, signing it, printing it and mailing it to the local Board of Elections or dropping it off at a ballot drop box. Mail-in ballots must be postmarked on or before November 5, 2024. Your voted mail-in ballot must be received by the Montgomery County Board of Elections by 10 am November 15, 2024.

State Constitutional Amendment No. 1:

This November, Maryland voters will decide on the Maryland Right to Reproductive Amendment, a proposal that would protect women's health or enshrine abortion in the state constitution. If voted in the affirmative, this policy would chill healthcare access for women;  bar or hinder personal decisions for pregnancy; and tie the hands of legislators for health safeguards. Vote No on Question 1!  

As Catholics, our faith informs the work we do, the actions we take and the words by which we live. In Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, the U.S. bishops call on Catholics to apply a consistent moral framework to issues facing the nation and world and shape their choices in elections in light of Catholic Social Teaching. These teachings include the four basic principles of Catholic social doctrine:
 

• Dignity of the Human Person 
• The Common Good
• Subsidiarity
• Solidarity

“A Catholic cannot vote for a candidate who favors a policy promoting an intrinsically evil act, such as abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide . . .  racist behavior, if the voter’s intent is to support that position” (emphasis added). This is called “formal cooperation in grave evil” (para. 34). Such decisions should consider a candidate’s commitments, character, integrity and ability to influence a given issue.

It is important to realize that the political choices faced by citizens impact not only general peace and prosperity, but an individual’s salvation. In his reflections on the Eucharist as “a sacrament of charity,”  Pope Benedict XVI called us to “a Eucharistic form of life.” This means that the love we encounter in the Eucharist should shape our thoughts, words and decisions, including those that pertain to the social order.

Read Forming Consciences for Faith Citizenship in English and Spanish. See additional resources on the Maryland Catholic Conference web site. St. Francis parishioners are likely to live in congressional districts 3, 6 and 8. Look up your congressional representative.