Confused Catholic Voter

"Conscience is what summons us to love good and avoid evil; to do this and to shun that; To obey it is the very dignity of man. According to it he will be judged. Conscience is the most secret core and sanctuary of man. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths. But conscience is no infallible guide. It frequently errs from invincible ignorance (ignorance for which we are not responsible). We Christians search for truth and for the genuine solution of problems in collaboration with others and in fidelity to our own conscience . (Vatican II document, The Church in the Modern World, #16 ).


I have been fighting with my conscience who the better candidate is in this election as far as moral issues and social justice..etc.

So I came across this website:- http://www.ewtn.com/vote/brief_catechism.htm and it explains clearly what the church's standing is on that issue. This was the church's advise in 2002 before the last election.


So I understand that Abortion is a 'disqualifying issue', because voting for someone that is pro abortion is assisting in the act itself by default. I also now understand that even though our calling in the church is to preserve life-- we can allow capital punishment such as the death penalty because it is an act of self defense.


The problem is this:- http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/mccain082499.htm

He (McCain) added that while he ultimately favors repeal of Roe, "we all know, and it's obvious, that if we repeal Roe v. Wade tomorrow, thousands of young American women would be performing illegal and dangerous operations."

and this:-http://www.ontheissues.org/Social/Barack_Obama_Abortion.htm


[An abortion protester at a campaign event] handed me a pamphlet. "Mr. Obama, I know you're a Christian, with a family of your own. So how can you support murdering babies?"
I told him I understood his position but had to disagree with it. I explained my belief that few women made the decision to terminate a pregnancy casually; that any pregnant woman felt the full force of the moral issues involved when making that decision; that I feared a ban on abortion would force women to seek unsafe abortions, as they had once done in this country. I suggested that perhaps we could agree on ways to reduce the number of women who felt the need to have abortions in the first place.


It sounds like the same guy is talking!!!


Another issue that, Pope John Paul II (MHSRIP) stated before the 2003 war that this war would be a defeat for humanity which could not be morally or legally justified. He strongly opposed the war, as he strongly opposed abortion.


So if one candidate is sort of anti abortion, but supports the war, and the other is pro abortion and does not support the war, are we morally obligated to boycott the elections as catholics?


If we vote for either one of the candidates, aren't we guilty of sin by association for either encouraging the death of the unborn child, or the death of the living child?


My questions come in the light that Douglas Kmiec and Gov. Sebelius were both denied communion recently based on issues to do with abortion. So if we vote do we get excommunicated then?