Astronauts can participate in US elections in coordination with the county clerk’s office, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Like any other American away from home, astronauts may fill out a Federal Post Card Application to request an absentee ballot.
Procedure
After an astronaut fills out an electronic ballot aboard the orbiting laboratory, the document flows through NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System to a ground antenna at the agency’s White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
From New Mexico, NASA transfers the ballot to the Mission Control Center at NASA Johnson and then to the county clerk responsible for casting it.
To preserve the vote’s integrity, the ballot is encrypted and accessible only by the astronaut and the clerk.
Astronauts have voted in US elections since 1997.
The two American astronauts stranded at the International Space Station will also case their vote this election.
One of the astronauts, Butch Wilmore, said, “It’s a vital role that we play as citizens, including those elections, and NASA makes it very easy for us to do that.”
The other, Sunita Williams, agreed with the sentiment.
