Voting from Space: How Astronauts Stay Politically Active Above Earth
16th Sep 2024
NASA tells astronauts stranded on the ISS since arriving aboard Boeing’s malfunctioning Starliner capsule in June that they can fulfil their civic duty in November and vote in the presidential election in orbit.
Can astronauts vote from space?
Two veteran astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Sunny Williams, won’t be able to return to Earth until next February on a SpaceX spacecraft, but that won’t stop them from casting a personal vote for a candidate in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
A particular procedure for such cases has existed for over 20 years. Since the Civil War, servicemen have participated in U.S. elections by mail, giving far-from-home voters a chance to cast their ballots.
However, you can’t simply ship paper ballots to and from the space station, more than 250 miles above Earth. It would be prohibitively expensive! So, how do astronauts vote in space? Some astronauts vote online, while others communicate their voting choice to a trusted person.
The right to vote in space
Before the advent of space stations in orbit, astronauts were not separated from Earth long enough to miss time to perform their civic duty.
Voting from space was never a problem because NASA astronauts typically spent up to two weeks on shuttle missions. But with the advent of the space station, Americans sometimes flew missions for months at a time.
That changed in 1996 when astronaut John Elmer Blaha could not vote between President Bill Clinton and Bob Dole in the presidential race because his shuttle to the Mir station left before absentee ballots were sent out.
Blaha requested permission to vote aboard the space station, but the Texas Secretary of State indicated that the state did not have facilities for electronic voting.
After the incident, Blaha mentioned the problem in a conversation with NASA official Susan Anderson, who contacted legislator Mike Jackson, a state senator from the area of Texas that includes the Johnson Space Center. They proposed that astronauts could submit an encrypted electronic ballot.
Senators and local politicians saw this as an opportunity to show that American democracy extends to all Americans.
Texas Voting from Space Act
In 1997, the Texas Legislature passed Rule 81.35. Texas Administrative Code allowed astronauts in orbit to vote in state and local elections. State Governor George W. Bush, Jr. immediately signed the bill into law.
This law states that “a person who meets the requirements for suffrage under Chapter 101 of the Texas Election Code, but who will be on space flight during the early voting period and on Election Day, may vote.”
How does voting happen in space?
Astronauts’ voting process begins a year before launch when they can choose the local, state, and federal elections in which they would like to participate.
The process is similar to how Americans vote overseas, usually via email or the Internet.
To vote aboard the ISS, astronauts must complete a Federal Post Card Application (FPCA), which military personnel stationed overseas also use.
The National Air and Space Museum reports that astronauts voting while in space will indicate their current address as “low Earth orbit.”
Before launch, astronauts inform their local supervisor that they want to vote from space. During the election, the Johnson Space Center transmits a secure electronic ballot emailed to the space station.
The astronaut will receive two electronic documents: a password-protected ballot sent by the Space Center’s Mission Control Center and a password email sent by the county clerk.
The encrypted electronic absentee ballot is transmitted to the astronauts via NASA’s Space Communications Network. The same network allows crew members to talk to family members and share data with the Mission Control Center in Houston.
Each astronaut has a unique password that opens the bulletin, which they fill out digitally and send back to Earth.
It’s essentially the same bulletin PDF that anyone can get in the mail.
The astronaut receives the password-protected document via email, fills it out, and returns it.
The encrypted document passes through a tracking satellite and relays the data to a ground antenna at the White Sands complex in New Mexico.
From there, the ballot is sent to the Mission Control Center in Houston and goes to the county clerk’s office, which copies his choices into a standard ballot.
Only the clerk and the astronaut will know how the astronaut voted.
But voting can be challenging, especially in space
A spokesperson for the Harris County Clerk’s office recounted an instance where they sent out a ballot for astronauts. It never came back. NASA says there was a technical glitch, and they were too busy during the shuttle mission to fix it.
Like those of us who live on Earth, a voting astronaut must cast their ballot by 7 PM Central Time on Election Day for the vote to count.
Americans who voted from space
In 1997, NASA astronaut David Wolf became the first American to vote in local elections from space aboard the Mir space station. NASA jokingly called the action “Vote While You Float.”
“You know, it’s an important thing you may or may not expect,” Wolf said. “But when you’re being taken off your planet, little things have a big impact.” He said it was just a small local election, and he doesn’t even remember who the candidates were. Still, he does remember feeling so isolated there on the Russian space station that filling out the ballot was strangely moving.
The first American to vote for president in space was Leroy Chao, who did so while commanding the mission of International Space Station Expedition 10 in 2004. After that, astronauts on the ISS voted in all but one presidential election.
“It works great,” said retired NASA astronaut Nicole Stott, who voted from the International Space Station in 2009 with NASA’s Jeff Williams. The only thing missing when voting from space are those “I Voted” stickers. “That was bad. That would have been cool,” Stott said of her experience voting from space.
American astronaut Kathleen Rubins voted for the ISS twice, in 2016 and 2020. In 2020, Rubins set up her voting cabin aboard the space station. She closed the door to her crew cabin and hung a handwritten sign that read “ISS Voting Booth.”
In the 2012 presidential election, ISS Expedition 33 crew members Commander Sunita Williams and Flight Engineer Kevin Ford voted from Earth by absentee ballot on the eve of their space flight.
Astronaut Shane Kimbrough cast his ballot in the November 2016 presidential election while on a four-month mission to the ISS.
While most astronauts live in Texas and are registered to vote in Texas, some are registered in other parts of the country. Andrew R. Morgan, for example, was registered to vote in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. The county’s Department of Voter Services worked with NASA to allow Morgan to vote in the 2019 local election.
In spring 2024, two NASA astronauts performed their civic duty aboard the International Space Station. Astronauts Jasmine Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara confirmed they cast their celestial ballots in messages on X, formerly Twitter.
“Being in space didn’t stop (O’) and I from voting. Go vote today!” – Mogbely wrote.
What is known about astronauts from other countries?
French astronaut Thomas Pesquet voted from space in 2017.
Elections Canada has stated that there is no mechanism for Canadian astronauts to vote from space. However, depending on when their journey begins, astronauts can apply for a special ballot at the beginning of the election period and vote “before they leave the Earth’s atmosphere.”
Do astronauts watch political debates?
Astronauts are very busy during flights.
They only have a little time to watch, but movie night is a popular event at dinner when the whole crew gets together. Typically, astronauts watch movies and shows on the record while in orbit.
Space station crews can ask mission control to send them shows to watch during dinner or at leisure. They can also watch movies on their laptops.
Suppose astronauts are faced with the question of whether to spend a few hours of their free time watching a recording of a political debate, looking out the window at the beautiful Earth, listening to music, surfing the Internet, or texting friends and family back home. In that case, I think the answer is obvious.
Thank you for your comment! It will be visible on the site after moderation.