Two American astronauts, who have been stuck on the International Space Station (ISS) since June, shared on Friday that they intend to cast their votes in the upcoming November election—directly from space.
Butch Wilmore, one of the astronauts, stated, “I sent down my request for a ballot today.” Speaking with reporters, he emphasized the importance of fulfilling their roles as citizens, even while in orbit. “It’s a very important role that we play as citizens, including those elections, and NASA makes it very easy for us to do that.”
Sunita Williams, the second astronaut, echoed his thoughts. “It’s a very important duty that we have as citizens and looking forward to being able to vote from space, which is pretty cool,” she said.
Harris County, Texas, where NASA’s Johnson Space Center is based, works closely with NASA to ensure the astronauts receive their ballots. The process involves sending them a secured PDF with clickable options for their choices. The PDF is password-protected, maintaining the privacy of their votes.
Rosio Torres-Segura, a spokesperson for the county clerk’s office, explained the procedure further: “Before sending the astronauts their ballot, it is transferred to a fillable document so that they can make their selections, save it, and send it back. A test ballot with a unique password is always sent first. Once they vote on their live ballot, it is returned, printed, and processed with other ballots.”
Voting from space isn’t a new practice. NASA employees have been able to do so since 1997 when a Texas law was passed to allow it.
The first astronaut to cast a ballot from space was David Wolf, who voted while aboard the Russian Mir space station in 1997. More recently, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins voted from the ISS in the 2020 election.
Wilmore and Williams’ mission was originally planned as an eight-day journey but extended due to technical issues with their spacecraft.
The astronauts will return to Earth aboard a SpaceX capsule, rather than the Boeing Starliner they initially launched with.
