On election day, even astronauts in space get to cast their vote
For most U.S. voters, living or working far from home isn't a barrier to voting on election day. That's what absentee ballots are for. But what if you work someplace really far away, like say... outer space?
American astronauts get to vote just like everyone else. They just have to get that process started a whole lot earlier.
It's all thanks to a Texas law passed in 1997, as NASA discusses in a helpful Tumblr post. (The law originates in Texas because the majority of astronauts live there, near Johnson Space Center in Houston.)
The coolest fact here: NASA calls voting from space... "space voting." (Let's be real, everything is inherently more awesome when you put "space" in front of it.)
The space voting process starts a full year before election day, with each astronaut selecting which local, state, and federal election in which she or he wants to cast a vote. Then, six months out, each registered voter astronaut receives a standard form absentee ballot request form.
Astronaut Shane Kimbrough was aboard the International Space Station during the 2016 presidential election. He talked about the space voting process in a radio interview with News 88.7 in Houston.
"It’s a right that we have here, and it was neat to exercise that right from such a unique vantage point and a unique place — and doing it while going 17,000 miles an hour. That’s kind of cool too," he said.
"The local folks [in Houston] sent me an encrypted, secure email with the ballot and then I just filled it out on board and sent it back down via email to the appropriate folks. And that’s how I voted."
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
