That is the reason why I don’t say it. What I say is that a person’s individual vote doesn’t matter, in the sense where “matter” refers to having any effect whatsoever on the outcome of the election. It does of course matter in terms of what it does to the person voting.

ctd, this document does not say outright that Catholics have a duty to vote, but past versions have always insisted on this, and I read the document in light of that traditionally asserted assumption. Perhaps the bishops are moving away from that idea, but I think the assumption still lurks in the background and pokes through in statements about how voting ‘may’ affect one’s salvation.

The bishops pay particular attention to voting for two reasons. First, for most Catholics — good or bad — that is their most direct experience with the political process. Second, voting, because it distills complicated issues into a single “yes or no” action, poses unique moral challenges not existent in other forms of political participation.

Perhaps the bishops might have done better to say that all types of political participation may affect one’s salvation, rather than just putting in the voting discussion. I don’t think, however, the absence of such a general statement gives undue emphasis on voting.

While it’s undeniably true that in any given election, no one given voter will be “the deciding vote”, since the leader is picked through the election you cannot say that voting doesn’t matter, since the sum of the votes does determine the outcome.

So while it’s true that no one vote determines the election, every vote does contribute to the outcome. One cannot say that the votes don’t matter.