Election day is November 5th, and when an American is registered to vote, but in space, such as someone aboard the ISS (International Space Station), how can they vote? Well, there are lots of separate ways that astronauts can get their vote in. Astronauts may have the chance to vote early or submit an absentee ballot. A special type of absentee ballot is allowed by the state of Texas for those astronauts that will not be able to vote beforehand, and that is an electronic absentee ballot.
In 1997, Texas passed a law allowing astronauts on long-duration spaceflights to be able to have an electronic absentee ballot sent to them (Smithsonian). This electronic absentee ballot will then be encrypted and uploaded to a computer at the ISS, and then sent to a NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) terminal at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico through TDRSS (Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System), which then is passed through landlines back to Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and given to the county clerks (Astronomy).
Even from space, astronauts can help do their part and vote (as long as they are a Texas resident). The first vote done in space was by David Wolf in 1997, but not aboard the ISS, instead it was in the Russian Space Station Mir, which is no longer active.
Pictured above is astronaut Kate Rubins, who voted in the 2020 election from the ISS as well as the 2016 election (Smithsonian). In the case of not being a Texan, like astronaut Andrew Morgan from Pennsylvania, there was a collaboration with NASA and the Lawrence County Department of Voter Services to allow Morgan to vote in 2019.
References
Firecrown Media. (2024, November 1). Here’s how ISS astronauts will vote in the 2024 election. Astronomy. https://www.astronomy.com/space-exploration/heres-how-iss-astronauts-will-vote-in-the-2024-election/
Smithsonian. (2020, November 2). How Do Astronauts Vote From Space?. National Air and Space Museum. https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/how-do-astronauts-vote-space
Wikimedia. (n.d.). Voting in space. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_in_space
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