Can Astronauts Vote From Space?
Can Astronauts Vote From Space?
In recent years, we have been voting using various methods, such as mailing our ballots, dropping them off at a ballot box, early voting, and casting our votes in person on Election Day. However, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins had a unique voting plan. She cast her vote while orbiting the Earth at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour, more than 200 miles above the planet, on board the International Space Station.
It's worth noting that this was not the first time Kate Rubins voted from space. She also cast her ballot from the International Space Station during the 2016 presidential election as part of Expedition 48/49.
But how does voting from space actually work? Astronauts are able to vote from space thanks to a special electronic absentee ballot. This process was established in 1997 when the Texas state legislature passed Rule 81.35, which allows eligible voters who will be on a space flight during the early-voting period and on Election Day to cast their vote. This law applies to many American astronauts who live in Houston, where NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC) is located.
Before the mission, an astronaut identifies which elections they will be in space for. Then, before Election Day, JSC's Mission Control uplinks an encrypted electronic ballot to the astronaut. Using unique credentials sent to them by email, the astronaut can access their ballot, cast their vote, and downlink it back to Earth to the County Clerk's office.
The first astronaut to vote from space was NASA's David Wolf in 1997, while he was on the Russian Space Station Mir. Although the process has not changed much since then, the ballots are now sent to the International Space Station, where astronauts' missions typically last about six months.
Overall, the process is not too different from voting absentee, except that when astronauts fill out their ballots, they list their address as "low-Earth orbit."
